Pak-based agencies spot ‘talents’ suiting to their interests on social media

PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, June 23

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Pakistan-based agencies and anti-national elements were spotting ‘talents’ on social media platforms for carrying out terror attacks and targeted killings in Punjab.

This came to light during the interrogation of alleged Khalistani operative Gurmeet Singh, who along with another accomplice Vikram Singh, was nabbed by Punjab Police on June 19.

The duo was under 10-day police custody.

They were targeting the youth who are economically weaker and have inclination towards ‘separatism’. They also target youth such as gangsters for the purpose, he said.

A senior police official privy to the investigations revealed that Gurmeet Singh was a drug addict and was involved in the trafficking of opium from Rajasthan though there was no FIR against him.

The official pointed out that he was also ‘scrutinised’ through a social media platform and he was later called with a religious jatha to Pakistan where he met with his Pak-based handlers in 2017.

Later, he remained in touch with them through video conferencing calls through OTT applications.

Talking to The Tribune, the investigation officer said that Gurmeet told that the Pakistan-based agencies were not targeting a particular community.

They were looking for the Punjabi youth whichever faith they belonged to and radicalised them for furthering their interests including disrupting peace and promoting hatred in the region.

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

Meanwhile, the police were trying to identify those who had dumped the sophisticated weapon in the fields near Gurdaspuria Dhaba on GT Road.

When they were trying to retrieve the weapons, some persons got suspicious and informed the police following which they were arrested. The weapons were retrieved next morning from the same place.

Gurmeet was earlier involved in a case of fraud along with his brother, and a case was registered against him in Amritsar.

Besides, Rural police, other intelligence and security agencies were interrogating the two alleged Khalistani operatives.