Two terrorists held with explosives in Punjab

PATIALA - Two members of terrorist organisation Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) were Sunday arrested from village Rajgarh near this Punjab town for possessing explosives and weapons, police said. The arrested duo was planning for a major strike in the state.

They were identified as Jasbir Singh, a resident of Manki village in Sangrur district, and Harjant Singh from a village in border district of Gurdaspur.

“We have arrested these men after laying trap following a tip-off. Our investigation is on and we cannot divulge further details as it might hamper the process,” P.S. Gill, inspector general of police (Patiala range), told reporters here, around 70 km from state capital Chandigarh.

Gill added: “Police have recovered nearly eight kg of explosives, 40 gelatin sticks, two pistols and some ammunition from them. We are trying to find from where they had procured these explosives.”

A police official said the KLF was active in the state during years of Sikh militancy from 1982 to 1995.

The Punjab police have in the last two months recovered explosives from two places in Patiala district.

Explosive material was recovered outside an Indian Oil Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) refilling plant near Nabha town, 25 km from here, last month.

Five days later, two grenades were found by the police on a road leading to Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Zirakpur, 20 km from Chandigarh.

District police chief R.S. Khatra said: “A few weeks ago, we had arrested two car thieves in Patiala who told us about Jasbir Singh. They said they had sold a stolen car to Jasbir. Based on their information and inputs from our intelligence wing, we managed to arrest these terrorists.”