Pakistan agencies roping in youth through social media: Intel

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 23

Pakistan-based agencies and anti-national elements are targeting youth via social media platforms for carrying out terror attacks and targeted killings in Punjab.

This came to fore during the interrogation of Khalistani operative Gurmeet Singh, who along with another aide Vikram Singh, was held by the Punjab Police on June 19. The duo is under 10-day police custody.

‘LURING PUNJABI YOUTH OF ANY FAITH’

The Pakistan-based agencies are looking for Punjabi youth of any faith whom they can radicalise for furthering their interests, including disrupting peace and promoting hatred in the region.—  Police officer

The agencies are targeting the youth who are economically weaker and have inclination towards ‘separatism’. They are also trying to lure gangsters for the purpose.

A police official privy to the investigation said Gurmeet Singh, a drug addict, was involved in trafficking of opium from Rajasthan though there was no FIR registered against him. The official said he was ‘spotted’ by Pak agencies through social media. Later, he was called with a religious jatha to Pakistan where he met his handlers in 2017.

He remained in touch with them via video-conferencing through various apps.

Talking to The Tribune, the investigation officer said Gurmeet revealed that the Pakistan-based agencies were not targeting youth of a particular community. “They are looking for Punjabi youth of any faith whom they can radicalise for furthering their interests, including disrupting peace and promoting hatred in the region,” the officer said.

Busting a terror module with their arrest, the police had confiscated a German-made MP5 sub-machine gun, a 9-mm pistol with four magazines and two mobile phones from them.

Meanwhile, the police are trying to identify those persons who had dumped sophisticated weapon in the fields near Gurdaspuria Dhaba on GT Road. When some persons came to retrieve the weapons, locals got suspicious and informed the police, following which the suspects were arrested.