Chandigarh, Dec 16 : Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) in a joint operation with Mohali Police, arrested four operatives of Canada-based terrorist Arsh Dalla and another foreign based-handler and recovered three .32 calibre pistols along with 16 cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP), Gaurav Yadav, here on Monday.

Those arrested have been identified as Gagandeep Singh and Navjot Singh, both residents of Amloh in Fatehgarh Sahib, Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of Bhadson in Patiala and Vipanpreet Singh, a resident of Faridkot.

Besides recovering arms and ammunition from them, the police have also impounded their white Swift car, in which they were travelling.

DGP Yadav said the accused confessed to have fired at a car accessories showroom in Phase 11, Mohali on the intervening night of December 1 and 2 with an intention to intimidate the shop owner and extort money from him as directed by their foreign-based handler, Daljit Singh, alias Ninda.

He is a history-sheeter and fled to the US on a passport with fake particulars and is associated with a radicalised US-based gangster.

The DGP said the module was linked to radical Arsh Dalla and was planning to execute more crimes in Punjab at his behest.

All the arrested accused have an extensive criminal history with a number of cases registered against them, the DGP said, adding further investigations are ongoing to identify more people involved in this module.

Additional Director General of Police, (AGTF), Promod Ban said following the firing incident at a car accessories showroom, special teams of the AGTF under the supervision of AIG Gurmeet Chauhan and AIG Sandeep Goel in coordination with Senior Superintendent of Police (Mohali), Deepak Pareek, were formed to crack the case.

The teams gathered CCTV footages, technical inputs and evidence from the crime spot which led to identification of the accused, including the two shooters involved in the crime, he said.

Acting swiftly, the teams traced them while they were travelling in their car and arrested them from Mohali after recovering weapons used in the crime, he said.

/IANS