KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
20-Jan-2020
The Amritsar Rural police arrested a Jammu-based man, Sarvodhya Rakesh Bihari, in connection with the narco-terror module it busted on January 11, from Jammu in J&K. This is the seventh arrest in the case. According to Police, Sarvodhya had been working as supplier of drones, and was in contact with a Delhi-based company that had been supplying the drones without following guidelines of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
20-Jan-2020
Seven more villages of Hoshiarpur district were declared drug-free by the administration as part of the campaign launched against the drug menace by the Punjab Government. The district now boasts of having 45 drug-free villages. Deputy Commissioner Isha Kalia handed over drug-free village certificates to village authorities.
20-Jan-2020
The acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet Singh sought cancellation of cases registered against 9 Sikh youths held for vandalizing the platform of Punjabi folk dancers's statues on the Heritage Street leading to the Golden Temple. He said on January 20 that “Amritsar was the centre of Sikh religion and such statues should have not been installed in the 'Heritage Street'….There is a difference between Sikh and Punjabi culture as the latter also covers Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and people of all other religions living in Punjab, but the Sikh culture is distinct."
19-Jan-2020
Punjab police’ s Counter Intelligence (CI) wing arrested two cross-border drug smugglers, identified as Satnam Singh alias Satta and Gurpreet Singh alias Gora and recovered 4 kg of heroin from their possession in Mamdot in Firozepur District of Punjab. According to officials, Satnam Singh, during the interrogation,revealed that he was in touch with a Pakistani smuggler, Riaz Chacha. On the intervening night of January 6 and 7, he had received 5-kg heroin that was thrown in the fields situated along the fence near border outpost Maste kein Firozpur, which belonged to Gurpreet.
19-Jan-2020
Amritsar Rural police arrested sixth accused in the recently busted narco-terror module, identified as Rishab Kumar, from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Police sources said that Rishab had sold a drone to the army naik Rahul Chauhan who was arrested along with two Chinese-made drones and arms on January 11.
19-Jan-2020
The misuse of drones by smugglers at the international border to fetch drug consignments has emerged as a major security threat in Punjab, says report. According to security sources, the easy availability of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) or drones has become a headache for the security agencies in Punjab. Police officials said that even though there were a number of regulations regarding the operation of drones, these were hardly being followed. The first incident of drone was reported in October 2019 when the Punjab Police arrested several Khalistani extremists who got sophisticated weapons from their handlers in Pakistan through drones. Recently, Amritsar rural police busted a drug cartel involving a soldier who was sneaking in drug consignments with the help of drones.
17-Jan-2020
The BSF recovered 22 packets comprising around 22 kg heroin, 90 rounds and two magazines of ammunition, WiFi connectors, two smartphones, a normal phone and a pipe from the Border Out Post (BOP) at Chontra in Gurdaspur sector in Punjab. According to sources, troops saw some movement near the fencing at Chontra post and opened fire, after which some smugglers ran towards the Pakistani side.
17-Jan-2020
A military deserter,Harpreet Singh (25) who recently escaped from Police custody from a hospital in Hoshiarpur, was arrested in Connaught Place in New Delhi. Earlier, Harpreet Singh had tricked police guards by making an excuse of going to the washroom and escaped from a civil hospital in Hoshiarpur by scaling its wall on January 14. Singh, who was a sepoy in the Indian Army, is facing charges for stealing two INSAS rifles and ammunition from the army's training institute in Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh.
17-Jan-2020
The BSF recovered six packets comprising 12.5 kg heroin, a China-made pistol with one magazine and nine rounds from BOP Rajatal in Amritsar sector in Punjab. BSF DIG Bhupinder Singh said, “When the jawans began to reach for their guns, the men on the other side threw what they were carrying and fled.”
17-Jan-2020
The BSF seized around 6 kg heroin from the BOP Rajoke in Tarn Taran district of Punjab. They also recovered US currency amounting to around 3 lakh rupees during a search after miscreants fled.
16-Jan-2020
The investigation into the recently busted narco-terror module has revealed that the Indian Army soldier,Naik Rahul Chohan, arrested along with two others with drones last week, was introduced to the smugglers at the International Border by their Pakistan-based handlers. Rahul Chohan contacted Dharminder Singh, a resident of border village Dhanoe Khurd, through Pak smugglers and in July 2019, the two allegedly started smuggling drugs using drones. They made several sorties in July and August. Though they stopped their activity for a month after the terror module busted in October, they resumed their activities in December.
15-Jan-2020
A Pakistani drone entered near Indian border at Channa Pattanam near Ajnala sector in Amritsar in Punjab. According to sources, after hearing the sound of a drone, the BSF fired around 100 rounds of bullets, though they couldn’t find the drone due to the dense of fog in the area.
14-Jan-2020
Senior officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) are looking at intelligence reports of rising incidents of weapons being pushed into India by Pakistan to aid Khalistani militants. According to sources, the probe into weapons smuggling began late last year (2019) after a Khalistani module was busted in Ludhiana in Punjab. Sources said that based on the interrogation reports of the two suspects - a woman who worked as a nurse in Faridkot and a man who used to work as a driver in Dubai - who were arrested in Ludhiana in November 2019, and additional intel inputs, senior officials at the UMHA have understood that large cache of weapons have been pushed inwards through some routes in Haryana and Rajasthan. It also added that the Pakistani handlers who are abetting the revival of Khalistani movement in the country have met some senior members of proscribed outfits - Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) in Pakistan recently.
14-Jan-2020
An army deserter, Harpreet Singh (25) who is accused of stealing rifles and ammunition from an army institute in Madhya Pradesh, managed to escape from the Police custody at the civil hospital in Hoshiarpur in Punjab where he was undergoing treatment for injuries. Harpreet was arrested from Tanda town on December 9, 2019 along with Jagtar Singh, the son of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) militant Harbhajan Singh. He was admitted to the civil hospital on December 31 with a fractured arm.
14-Jan-2020
The Amritsar (Rural) police identified six more suspects of the narco-terror module that was busted on January 10. According to Police, six persons, all belong to Punjab, were getting heroin supply from the arrested members of the module.
13-Jan-2020
A drone from Pakistan was spotted at Indo-Pak border in the Indian air space at Tendiwala village in Ferozepur district on January 13 night. A senior official said that, “The drone was seen for 4-5 minutes. BSF personnel tried to shoot it down but could not do so. Then, it disappeared.”
13-Jan-2020
According to officials, Punjab Police has constituted five teams to keep an eye on smuggling of drugs and weapons by drones from Pakistan. Among the five teams, one team will solely be dedicated to handle cyber crime, two teams will keep a tab on the movement of narcotics and smugglers from other states into Punjab and two other dedicated teams would track criminals by their social media activity. All the five teams will work in tandem to make arrests.The new teams were formed in the wake of the recent seizure of two Chinese-made drones used to fly into Pakistan to pick drugs and fly back and arrests of five drug smugglers.
12-Jan-2020
Bengaluru Police arrested an alleged Khalistan supporter, Jarnail Singh Sidhu, who had fled Punjab and was hiding in the city, from Sampigehalli Police Station limits in north-eastern Bengaluru in Karnataka. Police sources said that "The Punjab police had approached us about Jarnail Singh, who was wanted by them. We traced him and handed him over to the Punjab police.” According to Central Crime Branch police, he was residing in Bengaluru for the last six months and is also allegedly in touch with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Police said he was living in a paying guest accommodation and was working in a private firm.
12-Jan-2020
According to reports, Punjab arms and drug smugglers are now sourcing the high-end GPS fitted drones from the free classified websites like OLX for the cross-border smuggling of weapons and drugs. During an interrogation, the Army man, Rahul Chauhan, who was arrested along with two Amritsar-based drug smugglers, told the Punjab Police that he had purchased and sold one drone at OLX. Earlier, the modus operandi of smuggling weapons and narcotics using drones had come to light when the police busted a Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terror module in September 2019.
12-Jan-2020
According to report, Police has identified four more members of the narco-terror module busted by the Amritsar rural police four days ago, after the interrogation of the three arrested drug smugglers, including an Army man. Among the four suspects were two jail inmates who had been operating from the high-security prison in the city. The two jail inmates are believed to be accomplices of Balkar Singh, the kingpin of the nexus, who was a convict in an NDPS case and was undergoing 10-year imprisonment in Amritsar Central Jail.
11-Jan-2020
The three accused belonging to a narco-terror module busted by the Punjab Police on January 10 were sent to three-day police remand by a local court.
10-Jan-2020
The Punjab Police busted a narco-terror module, which flew drones from Amritsar to Pakistan to fetch drugs in the last few days, by arresting three persons, including an Indian Army soldier and an expert drone operator. The arrestees were identified as Dharminder Singh of Dhanoa Khurd village (Amritsar), Balkar Singh of Kalas village (Amritsar), and Rahul Chauhan of Pooja Vihar in Ambala (Haryana). DGP Dinkar Gupta said that the gang carried out multiple sorties before it was busted by the state police. He also said that they had recovered two highly sophisticated Chinese drones, belonging to the narco-terror module, involved in the smuggling of weapons and narcotics from across the border. “The seizure includes drone batteries, custom-made drone containers, two walkie-talkie sets, Rs 6.22 lakh, believed to be proceeds of drugs, and a magazine of an INSAS rifle. The drones, capable of travelling 2-3 km, were reportedly being launched from the Indian side to fly into Pakistan to pick up narcotics. The accused had apparently already conducted four-five sorties,” said Gupta.
10-Jan-2020
An Amritsar court awarded 12-year rigorous imprisonment to gangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria in a case involving peddling of drugs and attacking a police party in July 2015. However, six of his accomplices were acquitted in the case by the court. Bhagwanpuria, who is currently lodged in the Patiala jail, is facing trial in 30 criminal cases such as murder, attempt to murder and extortion.
10-Jan-2020
The Dal Khalsa and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) called for a complete shutdown in Punjab on the occasion of India’s 70th Republic day. The head of SAD (Amritsar), Simranjit Singh Mann and the chief of Dal Khalsa, Harpal Singh Cheema, in a joint press conference, stated that, “Punjab will remain shut on January 25 (January 26 being a Sunday) to register its protest against Sangh’s agenda of Hindu rashtra and to reiterate that Punjab won’t be part of the theocratic Hindu state”. They declared that the shutdown would be verdict on fascists and divisive policies and decisions of Narendra Modi government.
09-Jan-2020
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA] tribunal headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D N Patel upheld the Central Government's ban on pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ). The tribunal observed that it was clear from the evidence on record that activities of the group were ‘unlawful’, ‘disruptive’ and ‘threaten the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of India’. Justice Patel said that the evidence proves that SFJ was "working in collusion with anti-India entities and forces… Thus, the Central Government had sufficient cause to take action under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for declaring Sikhs For Justice as an unlawful association.” Earlier, the Central Government on July 10, 2019 had declared SFJ as an unlawful association and had banned it for five years.