Attempt to target VVIPs foiled, says DGP

JALANDHAR, Jan 24: Punjab Director General of Police P.C. Dogra today claimed that the police had unearthed and foiled a major plan by th...

JALANDHAR, Jan 24: Punjab Director General of Police P.C. Dogra today claimed that the police had unearthed and foiled a major plan by the Babbar Khalsa terrorists to target VVIPs in Delhi and Punjab including Union Home Minster I.K. Advani and Punjab Chief Minister P.S. Badal around Republic Day. He also revealed that the terrorists had been able to puncture the 8220;virtually impregnable8221; Indo-Pak border in Ajanala and Ferozepur sectors for pushing supplies of weapons and explosives and also for infiltrating men.

Talking to reporters here this afternoon, Dogra said the Punjab police had captured three ISI-backed and Afghanistan-trained Babbar Khalsa terrorists and a border crosser who were planning to strike in Delhi and Punjab by targeting the VVIPs and organising shootouts. A joint operation planned by the police of three districts 8211; Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib 8211; over the past one month had resulted in capturing Kulwinder Singh, the kingpin of the Babar Khalsa group, Darshan Singh, Jagjit Singh alias Jaswinder Singh alias Mintu and Karnail Singh, a border crosser. Twenty slabs of RDX, 1.5 kg of highly explosive PETN, one AK-47 rifle, one pistol, half kg heroin, 12 detonators, one timer, two time pencils and two mobile phones were recovered from the arrested militants.

The DGP said it was a concerted attempt on the part of the Babbar Khalsa to set up terrorist network in the state. He said the militants backed by dreaded Wadhawa Singh Babbar in Pakistan, were desperate to regroup in Punjab.

Kulwinder Singh is a Pak-trained militant who had crossed over to Pakistan in June last year with the help of a Pak crosser, Khan,8217; the DGP said. He said Kulwinder a along with eight others had got training in explosives and fabrication of bombs. He admitted that of the six infiltrators, four have been captured by police, but two others remained to be traced.

The DGP also admitted that the terrorists had been ablet lo breach the Indo-Pak border along Ajanal and Ferozepur sectors using riverine and other gaps to smuggle arms and ammunition and infiltrate men.

The DGP said Kulwinder who was trained along with five others in a militant training camp of the ISI in Afghanistan, had returned to India in December and started contacting former militants at the instance of Wadhawa Singh Babbar.

Admitting that religious fundamentalism was again beginning to be a motivating factor for the militant groups to lure the youths into terrorist fold, Dogra said, 8220;We are keeping a close vigil on the situation8221;.

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He claimed that the scattered terrorist groups in Punjab were getting directions and explosives from European countries as well as Pakistan. 8220;Smugglers and couriers are being used to smuggle narcotics and arms,8221; he added.

The other arrested militant Darshan Singh had been given the task to motivate youths in the Punjab countryside to join the militant ranks.

The DGP said the hawala money and fake currency were being used to fund the militants ranks by some forces in European countries and Pakistan.

The prime coordinator within this region for the Babbar activities has been identified as Didar Singh alias Dari alias Joginder Singh Dady, a notorious killer involved in many killings in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.