Thailand has arrested a fugitive Babbar Khalsa terrorist, convicted for life for his involvement in the assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and 17 others in 1995, Thailand police said on Tuesday.
Gurmeet Singh, alias, Jagtar Tara Singh, was arrested in the eastern province of Chon Buri on Monday during a raid on a house owned by a Pakistani national, said Thai national Police spokesman lt-Gen Prawut Thawornsiri. The 37-year-old member of the Babbar Khalsa International, Jagtar Tara Singh, had entered Thailand in October. He had escaped from a high-security prison in Chandigarh in 2004 before being convicted for life in 2007.
A team of provincial police and soldiers raided a house in Bang lamung district and arrested Singh, one of six Sikh militants convicted for the 1995 blast that also killed 17 others outside a Government complex in Chandigarh. During the raid, officers also arrested Pakistani national Ali Alat, the owner of the house. Alat, 48, said he was not aware of Singh’s criminal background. The duo was taken to Nong Phreu police station for interrogation. “We had been following him for a while, but at one point he slipped off the radar,” the spokesperson said.
Singh could have been travelling on a fake passport as the police said the terrorist faces extradition to India, sources said. The swift action followed a recent request by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju to Thai authorities to help capture the terrorist. Rijiju made the request when he visited Bangkok late last year for a UN meet.
last week, the national police chief had announced that a special unit would be set up to target transnational criminal gangs operating in Thailand or using the country as a shelter. Some foreign criminals and gangs consider Thailand to be a haven, including paedophiles, financial con men, electronic card skimmers, robbers, drug traffickers and terrorists.
Pol Maj Gen Nitipong Niamnoi, head of Chon Buri police, said Indian authorities had sought cooperation from Thailand, to help apprehend the suspect. The Indian Government had been in touch with Thai authorities to nab Singh, who had been hiding in Thailand for months and probably under another identity. Beant Singh was killed in a blast claimed by the Khalistani Sikh terrorists.