Cheap local runners from Ludhiana had made 3 more arms drops for foreign-directed hit squad.

Ludhiana: A counter-intelligence investigation has exposed how offshore terror masterminds are deploying low-paid local couriers to run dead-drop weapons routes throughout Punjab and Haryana.Before being arrested on Saturday, Karandeep Singh and Baljeet Singh had delivered at least three shipments of firearms and explosives near Amritsar over the past few months, receiving between ₹25,000 and ₹30,000 for each drop. Ballistics experts are investigating whether these weapons match recent regional attacks..Officers seized two hand grenades that the network had smuggled using a blind drop system designed to shield foreign-based assets from local cops.“The suspects received coordinates to leave consignments at specific locations, photographing the site for their handlers,” an official investigator said. “A separate cell would then retrieve the weapons. The couriers never met the buyers.”The operation stems from the May 17 arrests of Ankush Singh and Gaurav Masih near Ladhowal, where police intercepted three high-calibre pistols and 11 rounds of ammunition.

Ludhiana’s police commissioner, Swapan Sharma, said: “The cell was days away from executing five high-profile hits, including a contract killing in Kurukshetra, a sectarian murder in Khanna, and three extortion-related shootings across Moga, Faridkot, and Tarn Taran.”Intelligence logs link the module to foreign-based fugitive handlers, including Germany-based masterminds “Lakha” and Zorawar Singh, alongside Dubai-based operative Sahil Sondhi.The syndicate is heavily tied to regional political violence. Investigators confirmed the network had financed the Nov 2025 assassination of RSS member Naveen Arora in Ferozepur, a Feb shooting targeting other-state workers in Moga, and a recent grenade attack on a Haryana petrol refuelling station.The network promised local hitmen up to ₹50,000 for each killing. Police are tracing the bank accounts the offshore handlers had used to fund the local operations.