Gujarat ATS apprehends Punjab resident with links to Pakistan-based gangster

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday apprehended a wanted accused who is said to have links with a Pakistan-based gangster who, according to police, has been involved in grenade-attacks on security forces across Punjab allegedly at the behest of Pakistan's spy agency- Inter Services Intelligence or ISI.

A team of ATS acted on an input from Punjab police and arrested Bikramjit Singh, a resident of Amritsar, working as a labourer at a dhaba in Deesa in north Gujarat's Banaskantha district.

ATS said that during a "preliminary interrogation", Singh allegedly revealed that he was involved with Pakistan-based gangsters Shehzad Bhatti and Abid Jutt who smuggled grenades from across the border to target security agencies in Punjab.

Singh also used to recruit locals in Punjab "into the organised crime network for Shehzad Bhatti and Abid Jutt and played a key role in conspiracies to attack police stations and other security units as per their instructions," the ATS stated in the release.

According to the agency, Bhatti worked for ISI and "carried out terrorist activities for ISI in Punjab. Currently he is orchestrating grenade attacks on security units, police stations and prominent persons in Punjab," ATS officials said.

They said that an offence had been registered with the State Operational Cell, Amritsar on April 3. After preliminary interrogation, Singh was handed over to Punjab police for further action.