Chandigarh, Feb 20
In another breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab safe and secure as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) has arrested an associate of foreign-based terrorist Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa Harike, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday.
The arrested accused has been identified as Sukhchain Singh, alias Bhujia, a resident of Matti village in Mansa.
Police teams have also recovered a .32 calibre pistol along with five cartridges from his possession.
DGP Yadav said that acting on inputs, police teams under the overall supervision of ADGP, AGTF, Promod Ban launched an operation and arrested the accused person from the Bhikhi area in Mansa and recovered a pistol from his possession.
He said that the arrested accused was wanted in a recent attempt to murder case at Bhikhi.
The arrested accused also has a criminal history with a number of criminal cases, including an attempt to murder, and under the Arms Act and the NDPS Act registered against him.
The DGP said that the preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused Sukhchain Singh was planning to target rival gang members.
AIG, AGTF, Sandeep Goel said that further investigations are on to establish forward and backward linkages in this case. More arrests are likely in the coming days, he added.
Officials said terrorist Landa is operating from Canada for the smuggling of arms, ammunition and drugs using drones from Pakistan. "Landa sends the extortion money to Pakistan for the smuggling of heroin and illegal weapons through drones to Punjab," an official said.
A close aide of Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh, alias Rinda, Landa, who has joined a pro-Khalistan terror organisation, the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), was also a key conspirator in the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack at the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali, besides planting an improvised explosive device (IED) under a sub-inspector's car in Amritsar.