Main Shooter in Punjab Police HQ RPG Attack Arrested by NIA

The main shooter behind the May 2022 RPG attack on Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali has been arrested. Deepak Ranga, the man identified as the shooter, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Gorakhpur. Ranga is a close associate of Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa.

Deepak Ranga was absconding from the police since he shot the RPG at Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali back in May 2022. On Wednesday morning, the NIA arrested Ranga in Gorakhpur. He was also involved in a number of other violent criminal and terrorist offenses, including violent killings. He is an associate of Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa and Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda. He has been actively receiving terror funds and logistical support from both of them.

On September 20, 2022, the NIA registered a case after they discovered terrorists and gangsters based outside India were working with members of organized criminal gangs that operate in the Northern states of the country. These terror-gangster-networks are smuggling drugs, weapons, ammunition, and explosives, across the border using a complex inter-state network of gun runners, explosive traffickers, as well as illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers.

Since then, the NIA has arrested 19 members/ leaders of these terror networks, along with two arms suppliers and one big financier connected with the network under UAPA.

Meanwhile, Punjab police has been cracking down on drug smuggling operations across the India-Pakistan border. Last week, they shot down a drone carrying heroin near the Indo-Pak border in Kakkar village in Amritsar, according to Punjab Police DGP Gaurav Yadav. Two people were also arrested. In the same week, two more associates of Landa were arrested during a joint operation by Delhi police and Punjab police.

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