Philippines arrests 3 suspected members of Sikh extremist group | World News

Three suspected members of Sikh extremist groups on Interpol’s Red Notice watch list were arrested this month in a joint operation by Philippine government agencies, according to an official.

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Officials from the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) and Military Intelligence arrested suspected members of the Sikh extremist group – all Indian nationals in their 20s – in the central Philippine city of Ilo in a joint operation Illo, CICC executive director Alexandre Ramos said on Monday.

Ramos said in a statement that heavily armed troops stormed apartments in an exclusive subdivision of the city at dawn on March 7, catching the militants by surprise, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency.

“The well-coordinated lightning strikes by the agents caught members of the militant group off guard and (they) did not attempt to resist heavily armed forces,” the news agency quoted Ramos as saying.

The suspects were identified as Manpreet Singh, 23; Amripal Singh, 24; and Arshdeep Singh, 26, it said.

The trio belonged to the outlawed Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), according to media reports.

The suspects – who are also on Interpol’s red notice watch list – entered the country using fake passports. They evaded detection until they were tracked down by CICC experts. They will face charges of murder, breach of the Explosive Substances Act 2001 and the Prevention of Illegal Activities Act of 1967 in India.

Ramos attributed the success of the operation to “proper and prompt” coordination among government agencies through the National Cybercrime Center established in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

“The president will not tolerate any foreign terrorist presence in this country,” he said.

It said the suspects were also being investigated for their alleged ties to the Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Forces (JKGF), another terrorist group banned by the Indian government under anti-terrorism laws.

JKGF has been involved in infiltration bids, drug and arms smuggling, and terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

The development comes amid a crackdown by the Punjab police against radical preacher Amritpal Singh, the head of the militant group ‘Waris Punjab De’.

The crackdown on the group began weeks after Amritpal and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate.

Amripal, who is said to hold multiple passports with different identities, has been on the run since the police crackdown on him on March 18.

India last month banned the JKGF, which was made up of cadres from terrorist groups like Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad; and the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), which aims to revive terrorism in Punjab.

KTF was formed in 2011 as an offshoot of Babbar Khalsa International, a terrorist organization proscribed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

KTF is a militant group whose goal is to revive terrorism in Punjab to achieve its agenda of an independent state of Khalistan, thereby challenging India’s territorial integrity, unity, national security and sovereignty.