The Punjab police on Wednesday arrested one more person in connection with the delivery of arms and ammunition from Pakistan through use of drones.
The police said Gurdev Singh, resident of Jhaj village in Hoshiarpur district was arrested by a team of the State Special Operation Cell from PAP Chowk in Jalandhar.
Revived KZF
Gurdev is the brother of Germany-based operative Gurmeet Singh Bagga who had reorganised their terrorist group — Khalistan Zindabad Force — to revive terrorism in Punjab, along with the Pakistan-based chief of KZF, Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta.
On September 22, the police had busted a terrorist module of the revived KZF, seized arms in Tarn Taran district and arrested four suspects.
The police said initial investigation revealed that the weapons were suspected to have been delivered recently through drones launched by Pakistan’s ISI and the State-sponsored jihadi and pro-Khalistani terrorist outfits working under its command.
In all five AK-47 rifles (along with 16 magazines and 472 rounds of ammunition), four Chinese-made .30 bore pistols (along with eight magazines and 72 rounds of ammunition), nine hand grenades, five Thuraya satellite phones along with their ancillary equipment, two mobile phones, two wireless sets and ₹10 lakh fake Indian currency had been recovered.
The police on Wednesday dismissed reports that the weapons weighed 80 kg.
Probe under way
“..The recovery of [weapons etc] is not 80 kg, it’s not that... also, can one drone carry 10 kg payload etc, all these are technical issues, which are under examination. We need to study all these aspects,” R.N. Dhoke, Addl. DGP, Internal Security, told The Hindu .
News reports suggested that drones capable of lifting up to 10 kg flew in from Pakistan eight times to drop the cache. “Whether the drones were GPS-fitted or how many times they flew, all these things are being examined right now. As of now nothing can be confirmed,” said Mr. Dhoke.
