On Friday, May 19, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) apprehended two close aides of Arshdeep Singh Gill, alias Arsh Dalla, a Canada-based designated terrorist of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), after they arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport from Manila in the Philippines early in the morning. The arrested persons have been identified as Amritpal Singh alias Ammy and Amrik Singh, both belonging to Punjab.
An NIA court in Delhi earlier issued non-bailable warrants for both of the arrested persons in a case involving the illegal and violent operations of banned outfits in India. According to the NIA, Amritpal, and Amrik have many criminal cases filed against them in Punjab. NIA had filed a suo moto case on August 20, 2022, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, a press release issued by the NIA stated.
Following the arrest, the two were produced before a special court which remanded them to NIA custody till May 27.
According to NIA investigations, the accused engaged in a criminal conspiracy to generate funds for the banned terrorist organization Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) as well as smuggled weaponry, ammunition, and explosives for it from across the border.
The accused had also been working for the designated terrorist Arshdeep Singh to further the violent criminal operations of the KTF in India, according to the NIA. They had been implicated in smuggling weapons from Pakistan and recruiting youths to carry out acts of violence and terror in the country at the behest of the KTF, along with another notorious wanted accused, Manpreet Singh alias Peeta.
Furthermore, they were involved in an extortion racket to raise funds for the outlawed organization. The accused used to locate extortion targets, such as businessmen, and then threaten them into handing over huge amounts of money. “In case the identified targets refused, their homes and other premises would be fired at by the accused’s India-based associates,” the NIA stated.
It is notable that Canada-based Arsh Dalla has been designated as an ‘individual terrorist’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 9 this year.
NIA’s crackdown on Arsh Dalla’s terror network
On Friday, OpIndia reported that the NIA raided 324 locations in six states and two Union Territories, in collaboration with Punjab and Haryana police as a part of its multi-state crackdown on terrorist-gangster-drug-peddler nexus codenamed “Operation Dhvast”.
The NIA said that the day-long searches under Operation Dhvast were aimed at disrupting the terror network of Arsh Dalla, a designated terrorist, as well as dreaded ganglords such as Lawrence Bishnoi, Chhenu Pehalwan, Deepak Teetar, Bhupi Rana, Vikash Lagarpuriya, Ashish Choudhary, Gurpreet Sekhon, Dilpreet Baba, Harsimrat Simma, Anuradha, and others.
The cases are linked to conspiracies involving targeted killings, terror funding of pro-Khalistan organizations, and extortion.
