Smuggler arrested for supply RDX to militants

Ludhiana, Jan 16 (UNI) The Punjab police has arrested a Rajasthan based smuggler who supplied RDX to the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and it was used in the Shingar cinema hall bomb explosion in October last year that left six dead and 33 injured.

A special team of the state police headed by SP (detective) Gurpreet Singh Toor nabbed Mohammed Ali, the notorious smuggler who had supplied the RDX from his village, Sadrau in Jaisalmer district.

The smuggler who was bought here today was remanded to seven days police custody by a local court.

Giving details of the arrest, SSP R K Jaiswal told mediapersons that the smuggler's name figured in the interrogation report of BKI militant Gurpreet Singh, the mastermind of the Shingar bomb explosion who is currently under detention alongwith nine of his associates. The Punjab police team took Gurpreet to Rajasthan and identified the spot in the Bikaner sector from where the RDX had been smuggled by Mohammed Ali.

Mr Jaiswal said the team assisted by the Rajasthan police nabbed Mohammed Ali from his village, which is close to the border.

A total of 22 kg RDX was smuggled from Pakistan and handed over to Gurpreet, he said while pointing out that 19 kg of the explosive material had been recovered by the police so far.

Replying to a question, Mr Jaiswal said the BKI did not make any payment to Mohammed Ali for the RDX. '' This perhaps indicates the involvement of official agencies of Pakistan'', he added.

According to the records procured by the Punjab police from Rajasthan, Mohammed Ali is a listed smuggler who has been active on the Bikaner and Jaisalmer sectors. In 1995 he was arrested in Pakistan for smuggling Acetic Anhydrate, a chemical used for converting opium to heroin.

Mohammed Ali was also arrested by the Rajasthan Police for smuggling charas in the 1990s.

UNI XC-HS KK KP1825