Punjab Police arrest man with ISI links; weapons, counterfeit currency seized

Chandigarh, April 6 (IANS) In a major breakthrough against cross-border smuggling and terror networks, Amritsar Rural Police apprehended a man named Jarman Singh, who was linked to ISI, with weapons and counterfeit currency, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Sunday.

One Glock 9mm pistol, one .30 calibre pistol, three magazines and Rs 2,15,500 fake currency were seized.

Preliminary investigation revealed the consignment was sent by operatives of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan, to create unrest in the region, said DGP Yadav.

He said a first information report (FIR) was registered at the police station in Gharinda in Amritsar.

Further investigations are ongoing for forward and backward linkages, he added.

Last week, in a breakthrough, Counter Intelligence (CI), Amritsar, averted a possible terror attack in the state with the arrest of an operative linked to the ISI and recovered one hand grenade from his possession.

The arrested accused was identified as Jaiveer Tyagi, alias Jawed, a native of Baroli village in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who was currently residing in Ludhiana.

DGP Yadav had said CI Amritsar teams had received an input revealing that a foreign-based individual identified as Sehlam, who is working for ISI, along with his cousin identified as Jaiveer Tyagi, were hatching a conspiracy to target the government infrastructure through terror attacks in various cities to disturb the peace and harmony.

The input further revealed that Tyagi also retrieved the consignment of hand grenade from the area of Amritsar and was waiting for his other accomplices near Tara Wala Pul in Amritsar to commit a major crime, he said, adding, acting swiftly on credible inputs, police teams from CI Amritsar launched an intelligence led operation and apprehended accused Tyagi. One hand grenade was recovered from his possession. The DGP had said further investigations revealed that the arrested accused, Tyagi had been residing in Ludhiana for the last 14-15 years and was in contact with Sehlam through encrypted messaging apps. The probe has also revealed that on Sehlam’s instructions, the accused Tyagi had procured the grenade.

–IANS

VG/DPB