Police bust terror plot in Punjab's Moga nabbing 3 with Pak weapons; planning from Canada

In a massive development, a major terror plot was busted in Punjab on Friday. Punjab Police has arrested three people with two hand grenades, two pistols, three magazines and 18 live cartridges in the Moga district. The accused were trying to target a religious place, sources told Republic.

The trio was arrested when police signalled a black pickup van to stop near Chogawan village during the search operation. They, however, tried to flee but the police were successful in nabbing them. The weapons that were seized from the accused came from Pakistan, sources said.

Among three, one Gurpreet Sidhu alias Gopi was earlier also involved in the Amritsar tiffin bomb case. Meanwhile, after registering a case against the accused, they will be presented in court where police will seek their remand.

The Moga SSP said that one pistol and six 9 mm rounds were recovered from Gopi, one 9 mm pistol from Varinder and two grenades from Baljeet Singh. The police said that accused wanted to create an atmosphere of fear. 

"They have links with abroad handler Arsh Dalla. Their handlers abroad pay them to get tasks done. They wanted to target Religious places to create fear among people. The attempt to create an anti-national atmosphere was being made from across the border," he said.

'Had links with Canada-based Arsh Dalla'

SSP Moga said that these people had links with a person named Arsh Dalla who is in Canada. Notably, Arshdeep Dalla's name was also mentioned in the letter from Prime Minister's security to Punjab Police. 

"In the month of Sept-2021, an associate of Canada based Arshdeep Singh Dalla, Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF)'s chief,  a Moga based activist along with his associates of SFJ (Sikhs For Justice) were apprehended with an IED, grenade and weapons, grenade and weapons in Bhikhiwind area, Taran Taran on 22.09.2021. These were suspected to be used for targeting VIP or BJP leaders. The presence of sleeper cells and anti-national elements in the area pose a serious threat to VVIP security," the letter had said.

Image: Republic World