Chandigarh: Uttar Pradesh Police and Punjab Police have, in a joint operation, arrested an active operative of banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) from Kokhraj police station area in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh (UP), claimed Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab, Gaurav Yadav.
Identified as Lazar Masih, the arrested terror operative, linked with Pakistan’s ISI. hails from village Kurlian in Amritsar district of Punjab.
His arrest comes about five months after his escape from the judicial custody while he was undergoing treatment at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar on the night of September 24, 2024, said the DGP in a media release.
DGP Yadav elaborated that the arrested accused was working under Germany-based BKI operative Swaran Singh alias Jiwan Fauji and was in direct contact with Pakistan’s ISI. Jeevan Fauji is a key associate of Pakistan-based BKI mastermind Harwinder Rinda and USA-based BKI operative Happy Passian.
The police teams recovered three hand grenades, two Gelatine rods, two detonators, one foreign-made 7.62MM Norinco M-54 Tokarev (USSR) pistol along with 13 cartridges from him.
According to DGP Yadav, the arrested accused was wanted in multiple criminal cases in the state including in a case registered under Explosives Act at Police Station Kambo in Amritsar Rural, in which he helped Jiwan Fauji in picking up and dropping the consignments of explosives, weapons and drugs from one place to another.
He is also wanted in a case registered at Police Station Jhander in Amritsar in which, on the instructions of his handler Jiwan Fauji, provided weapons and other logistics support for target killing in Kalanaur and Dera Baba Nanak areas.
