The two men were arrested during a frisking and checking drive along the state's internal border. (File)
A "major terror attack" has been averted in Punjab, the state police said after they claimed to have busted a "Pakistan-backed" pro-Khalistan terrorist module with the arrest of two criminals who were picked up on the basis of "intelligence inputs".
According to the state's top cop, initial questioning of the arrested men revealed that they were operating in connivance with five other criminals, including an active member of the terrorist organization Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) Shubhdeep Singh, who is currently lodged in the Amritsar jail.
"The Pakistan-backed module was busted on the basis of inputs about certain pro-Khalistan elements trying to launch terror attacks," Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said today.
According to the police, Harjeet Singh and Shamsher Singh of Tarn Taran district - a stone's throw away from Amritsar - were arrested during a frisking and checking drive along the state's internal border.
The police also seized six sophisticated weapons (one 9mm pistol, four .32 calibre pistols and one .32 revolver), 8 live rounds of ammunition, several mobile phones and an internet dongle from the duo and booked them using provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019.
Giving details about KZF's Shubhdeep Singh, Mr Gupta said he was arrested in September last year with the recovery of a China-made drone from Amritsar's Mahawa village.
Singh was arrested months after the National Investigation Agency filed a case against him, and eight others, on the basis of information that Pakistan-based Chief of Khalistan Zindabad Force, Ranjeet Singh, was smuggling arms, ammunition, explosives and fake Indian Currency Notes into India via drones from Pakistan.
According to the DGP, the arms and ammunition recovered from Harjeet Singh and Shamsher Singh were from Madhya Pradesh's Burhanpur and Haryana's Jind district.