Pak-trained mercenary held

LUDHIANA, Aug 27: Punjab Police today achieved a major breakthrough in its fight against narco-terrorism with the arrest of a Pakistan-tr...

LUDHIANA, Aug 27: Punjab Police today achieved a major breakthrough in its fight against narco-terrorism with the arrest of a Pakistan-trained Indian mercenary and his two accomplices from whom sophisticated explosives like RDX and PETN were recovered.

State police chief P.C.Dogra told a press conference here that the arrest of Dipty Nath alias Palla, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, who had set up base in the city last year, revealed his involvement in trans-border operation of Pakistan8217;s Inter-Service Intelligence ISI agency.

He said about 10 kg of RDX, three kgs of PETN and about seven kg of nitor-gylcerine, sodium and potassium nitrate and a saw dust mixture besides a large number of electric and non-electric detonators and time-blasting fuses have been recovered in an operation carried out by the Ludhiana police.

Kanta, wife of Ved Parkash Sharma who allegedly motivated Dipty Nath in becoming a courier and smuggler, and one Deepak Sharma have also been arrested, he added.

Preliminary interrogation of Dipty Nath and his accomplices have revealed yet another dimension to the ISI-backed proxy war being pursued in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country, Dogra claimed.

SSP Dinkar Gupta said Dipty Nath, belonging to Laddy Chak village in Kathua district, had brought in massive consignments of arms and ammunition besides explosives for Babbar Khalsa terrorist organistaion during 1988-89 through Jammu border.

Those days, he used to operate in tandem with then Babbar Khalra chief Sukhdev Singh since killed and later its present Pakistan-based chiefs Wadhawa Singh and Mehal Singh, he added.

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The SSP said Dipty Nath was arrested in 1989 while bringing a consignment and remained in various jails in Jammu and Kashmir for six years till 1995. It was in jails that he developed links with many Punjab and Kashmiri terrorists and was once approached by Khalistan Tigers Force chief Mohinder Pappi, a Jammu-based notorious criminal who was later killed in an encounter with Punjab police, he added.

Gupta said smugglers of Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir also terrorists revived their links with Dipty Nath shortly after his release in 1995. Dipty played a crucial role in strengthening bases of Babbars and Khalistan Commando Force KCF by bringing consignments of arms and ammunition and trained saboteurs of the two outfits.Dipty made at least 12 trips to Pakistan and brought in almost five quintals of explosives, weapons and other chemicals besides narcotics.

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