M A I N   N E W S

4 KCF militants nabbed
Nine kg RDX seized
From Our Correspondent

KAPURTHALA, May 6 — The Kapurthala police nabbed four suspected militants last night during a naka at Nanakpur village on the Kapurthala-Fathudingha road.

Addressing a press conference at the local rest house today, Dr G.S. Aujla, Inspector-General of the Punjab Police, Jalandhar Range and Mr Iqbal Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, said 9kg of RDX, three ABCD timers, three batteries, two pistols, two magazines and 11 live cartridges had been recovered from them.

The arrested militants were identified as Gurdeep Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Bakshish Singh and Sukhdev Singh, all of Narli village in Amritsar. They belonged to the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) headed by Paramjit Singh Panjwar.

Their fifth accomplice, Jassa Singh, was at large.

Sukhdev Singh, leader of the group, was the brother of notorious smuggler Pargat Singh Narli. The police officers said Sukhdev Singh was earlier arrested for engineering blasts in August, 1999. While facing trial in Amritsar and on being released on bail, he again established contacts with Panjwar across the border.

The officers said on a tip-off, a police party headed by Mr S.S. Mand, DSP (D), laid a naka near Nanakpur village on the Kapurthala-Fathudingha road last night. At about 12.45 p.m. police party signalled a Maruti car (No. PB02-A-7085) to stop. As soon as the car came to a halt, one person managed to escape. And the police party overpowered the remaining occupants.

The militants told the police that the consignment of RDX was received by them from across the border.

Mr V.K. Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jaskirat Singh, Chahal, SP (D) Mr Munish Chawla, SP, (Headquarter), and members of the naka party were present at the press briefing.

Asked about the specific target of the terrorists, the IG said further interrogation was on. He said these terrorists were awaiting further instructions from Panjwar on how and where to strike.

He said the RDX recovered by the police was enough to blow up three compartments of a train or destroy a building.

The ammunition was displayed on a table and was shown to mediapersons.

The IG complimented the Kapurthala police for this recovery and the busting of a fake currency racket this week.