Unable to recruit for terrorist attacks in Punjab based on ideology, gangsters working under the direction of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI have turned to teenagers, drug addicts and petty criminals to attack police stations.
The Indian Express spoke to several senior police officers on the recent incidents of grenade and IED attacks on police stations. Minors, drug addicts, petty criminals and poverty-stricken youth are used by foreign goons to carry grenades, said the official, who did not want to be named. Attacks on police stations.
“We have enough information about the modus operandi of these goons and the moves they are making but not everything can be put in the public domain. As these people, working under the direction of the ISI and Pakistan-based Sikh separatists, are unable to attack Punjabi youth on ideological grounds, they now resort to petty criminals to do their work. Tempting,” said a senior police officer.
The police investigation has shown that the promise of taking them abroad through fake passports or the ‘donkey route’ is another temptation to involve criminals in grenade attacks.
“ARGES grenades procured by Pakistan Army and P86 grenades of Chinese origin have been used on several occasions. Ready-made IEDs are dropped by drones flying from Pakistan and have been used like ‘tiffin bombs’ in Punjab a few years ago. The rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) used in the attack were also of Russian origin and dated to the war in Afghanistan,” revealed a senior official.
While drones are an easy way to deliver these explosives, the ISI is also using the traditional river routes used by drug smugglers.
Police officials said there was no ideological motive behind the attacks on police stations in the state. “It is an easy way to instill fear in the general public and the police. Not much training is required to carry out these operations and neither are those who carry out these attacks adequately trained in the use of weapons and ammunition,” said an office.
According to the police, the main activity of these gangsters in foreign countries is extorting ransom through threats, so they are also using such attacks to build their profile. “Hooligans abroad are calling journalists and asking for interviews to present themselves as a bigger threat. In one instance when we didn’t name a particular group behind the attack, it irked them a lot,” said a senior official.
Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda has formed a new terrorist network with US-based Harpreet Singh alias Happy Pasia, police officials said. He said he wanted to launch a new crop of separatists for decades. And the early 1990s are now dead or fading away.
“However, Punjab is not a radicalized state. Those living in other countries are radicalized to some extent but there is not this majoritarian spirit. We are in talks with foreign government agencies through the Government of India to check the activities of separatists and gangsters abroad so that their nuisance value can be reduced. ” revealed an official.
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