The Punjab Police on Monday said it has busted five major terror modules after arresting 17 people in the past 10 days. Apart from this, police teams have also recovered three hand grenades and one improvised explosive device.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sukhchain Singh Gill said in the past 10 days, police teams managed to strike a major blow to the terrorist modules being operated by gangsters-turned-terrorists, including Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, Harvinder Singh, alias Rinda, and Arsh Dalla.

On October 1, the Punjab Police busted a module after arresting three operatives of an ISI-backed terror module jointly handled by Canada-based Lakhbir Landa and Pakistan-based Harvinder Rinda after recovering one sophisticated AK-56 assault rifle along with two magazines, 90 live cartridges and two bullet shells, he said.

Earlier on September 28, an operative of Canada-based terrorist Lakhbir Landa gang was arrested from Bihar for his involvement in several heinous crimes pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, assault, robbery and snatching.

The IGP said an ISI-backed Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) terror module being operated by Canada-based terrorist and gangster Arshdeep Singh, alias Arsh Dalla, was busted with the arrest of its two operatives from Chamkaur Sahib.

Police also recovered two illicit weapons, including a .22 bore revolver and .32 bore pistol along with 21 live cartridges.

Two days after, police arrested one more operative of the same module after recovering three hand grenades and two pistols from his car, said Gill.

On October 4, the Amritsar rural police busted an ISI-backed narco-terrorism module after arresting its main operative.

An RDX loaded tiffin box fabricated into an IED or tiffin bomb; two sophisticated AK-56 assault rifles along with two magazines and 30 live cartridges; one .30 bore pistol along with six live cartridges; and 2-kg heroin was recovered from his possession.

The next day, another drone-based arms and ammunition smuggling module was busted with the arrest of its two members, including a prisoner, after recovering 10 foreign-made pistols from a location pinpointed by them, he said.

Three more members of this module were arrested with a fresh cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition from their possession, including 17 pistols and one MP-4 rifle besides Rs 1.01 crore in cash and 500-gram heroin, he said.

On October 9, a Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) module being operated by Germany-based Gurmeet Singh, alias Bagga, was busted with the arrest of its five members for arranging smuggled weapons and providing logistic support. Police also recovered two 9mm foreign made pistols and one .32 bore pistol, said the IG.