Trio allegedly belonging to Khalistan Tiger Force arrested in Philippines

Three suspected members of a Sikh extremist group on Interpols Red Notice watchlist were arrested during a joint operation by the Philippine government agencies this month according to an officialOfficers from the Philippine Bureau of Immigration the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center CICC and the Military Intelligence Group arrested suspected members of the Sikh extremist group all Indian nationals in their 20s in the central Philippine city of Iloilo during a joint operation CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said on MondayRamos said in a statement that the heavily armed troops stormed an apartment in an exclusive subdivision in the city at dawn on March 7 and caught the militants off guard staterun Philippine News Agency reportedThe wellcoordinated lightning strike by operatives caught members of the militant group flatfooted and they did not attempt to resist the heavily armed troops Ramos was quoted as saying by the news agencyThe suspects were identified as Manpreet Singh 23 Amritpal Singh 24 and Arshdeep Singh 26 it saidAccording to media reports the trio belonged to the banned Khalistan Tiger Force KTFThe suspects who are also on the Interpol Red Notice watchlist entered the country using fake passports They evaded detection until they were tracked down by experts from the CICC They will face charges of murder violation of the Explosive Substances Act 2001 and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 of IndiaAlso readAtiq Ahmad two others sentenced to life in 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping caseRamos attributed the operations success to the proper and speedy coordination between the government agencies involved through the National Cybercrime Hub established at the Bonifacio Global City in TaguigThe President will not tolerate any foreign terrorist to set foot in the country he saidThe suspects are also being probed for their alleged ties to the Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force JKGF another terror group that has been banned by the Indian government under the antiterror law it saidThe JKGF has been involved in infiltration bids narcotics and weapon smuggling and terror attacks in Jammu and KashmirThe development comes amidst a crackdown by the Punjab Police on radical preacher Amritpal Singh the chief of the radical outfit Waris Punjab DeThe crackdown on the outfit began weeks after Amritpal and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associateAmritpal who is said to be possessing multiple passports with different identities has been on the run since March 18 when the police launched the crackdown against himIndia last month banned the JKGF which has been formed with cadres from terrorist organisations such as the LashkareTaiba and JaisheMohammed and the Khalistan Tiger Force KTF which aims to revive terrorism in PunjabThe KTF came into existence in 2011 as an offshoot of the Babbar Khalsa International a proscribed terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPAThe KTF is a militant outfit and it aims reviving terrorism in Punjab with a view to achieve its agenda of formation of a separate state of Khalistan and thereby challenges the territorial integrity unity national security and sovereignty of IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever