Chandigarh, Nov 13 : In a major breakthrough, Ludhiana Commissionerate Police has busted a Pakistan-based ISI-backed grenade attack module with the arrest of 10 key operatives of foreign-based handlers, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav on Thursday.

Those arrested have been identified as Kuldeep Singh, Shekhar Singh and Ajay Singh, all residents of Muktsar Sahib. While Amrik Singh, Parminder, Vijay, Sukhjit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Karanveer Singh and Sajan Kumar have been brought on production warrant from different jails for their role as couriers and facilitators.

The police have also recovered one 86P Chinese hand grenade, one black kit and a set of gloves from the accused.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were in contact with Pakistan-based handlers through three operatives based in Malaysia to coordinate the pickup and delivery of a hand grenade.

The task was assigned by the handlers to carry out a grenade attack in a populated area to create unrest in the state, the DGP said.

Commissioner of Police (Ludhiana) Swapan Sharma said, acting on intelligence inputs, a first information report (FIR) was registered against suspects Kuldeep Singh, Shekhar Singh and Ajay Singh.

Given the sensitivity of the case, special teams were constituted to ensure swift and effective action, he said, adding further investigation has identified the foreign-based masterminds, Malaysia-based Ajay Malaysia, Jass Behbal and Pawandeep.

These individuals are known to reside together abroad and were in contact with local facilitators Amrik Singh and Parminder, both of whom were previously involved in drug smuggling operations for them.

The Commissioner of Police said during the investigation, Vijay, brother of Ajay Malaysia, who was lodged in the Ganganagar Jail in Rajasthan in connection with a commercial quantity NDPS Act case, was also arrested on a production warrant for his role as a facilitator in this case.

The probe further uncovered the local network involving accused Sukhjit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Karanveer Singh and Sajan in facilitating the delivery of the hand grenade in Punjab, he added.

/IANS