North News
Chandigarh/Amritsar, January 28
Punjab Police’s Special State Operation Cell (SSOC) in Amritsar has busted a Pakistan-ISI-backed narco-terror module linked to USA-based operatives Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passian and Sarwan Bhola, a notorious drug smuggler, police said on Tuesday. Two members of the module have been arrested in connection with the January 9 grenade attack on the Gumtala Police Post in Amritsar. Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav identified the arrested suspects as Bagga Singh, a resident of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar in Sirsa, Haryana, and Pushkaran Singh alias Sagar, a resident of Amarkot in Amritsar. Authorities seized a hand grenade, two sophisticated pistols, and ammunition from their possession.
The investigation revealed that Bagga Singh is a relative of Sarwan Bhola, who is the brother of Ranjit Singh alias Cheeta—a notorious drug smuggler currently incarcerated in Bathinda jail in connection with a 532-kg heroin recovery case. Sarwan Bhola, who operates a drug smuggling network from the United States, is also wanted in the same case and carries a ₹2 lakh reward from the National Investigation Agency (NIA). “The module was tasked with carrying out terror activities in Punjab under the instructions of USA-based Harpreet Singh Happy and Harvinder Rinda,” DGP Yadav said. He added that investigations are ongoing to establish forward and backward linkages and to expose the complete extent of the terror network.
According to AIG SSOC Amritsar Sukhminder Singh Mann, intelligence-led operations resulted in the arrest of Bagga Singh in Sirsa and Pushkaran Singh in Amritsar. “We recovered explosives and weapons from the suspects, and efforts are underway to uncover their involvement in previous crimes and apprehend remaining module members,” he said. The January 9 attack saw unidentified individuals lob a hand grenade at the Gumtala Police Post. The Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terror group subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack through social media. The police are employing scientific methods to further investigate the case and dismantle the broader network.
