Gangster Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Passia, who was allegedly behind 14 terror attacks in Punjab, was arrested in the United States on Friday, media reports said, citing FBI officials.
Happy was arrested in California’s Sacramento.
The gangster, who had entered the US illegally, used burner phones to evade arrest.
In an X post, FBI Sacramento wrote, “Today, Harpreet Singh, an alleged terrorist responsible for terror attacks in Punjab, India, was arrested by the #FBI & #ERO in Sacramento. Linked to two international terrorist groups, he entered the U.S. illegally and used burner phones to evade capture.”
As per the Punjab Police, Happy is wanted in as many as 17 criminal cases.
NIA Chargesheet
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) named him recently in a chargesheet related to the 2024 grenade attack in Punjab’s Chandigarh.
Happy from the US and Pakistan-based terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda were responsible for the grenade attack, the NIA said.
The two provided logistical aids, terror funds, weapons and ammunition to the ground operators in Punjab.
The attack was hurled on a house which was assumed to be occupied by a retired Punjab police officer.
As per a report by Hindustan Times, the Punjab Police busted a terror module backed by Pakistan-ISI and run by Happy and another operative named Shamsher alias Honey.
Five, including the mastermind Abhijot Singh, were arrested in the case over grenade attacks on police establishments in Batala and Gurdaspur.
Tahawwur Rana’s Extradition
Singh has been arrested just weeks after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India from the U.S.
Rana, a 64-year-old Pakistan-born Canadian national, had been in judicial custody in the US before the proceedings under the India-US Extradition Treaty began to send him to India to face trials.
Rana landed in New Delhi on April 10 on a special flight and was arrested by the probe agency upon his arrival.
Rana, a known associate of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, is accused of facilitating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 dead.
Headley, who turned approver, testified in a US court that Rana helped him conduct reconnaissance of key targets in Mumbai between 2007 and 2008.
Though Rana was acquitted in the US in 2011 of direct involvement in the 26/11 attacks, he was convicted of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba and aiding a terror plot in Denmark.
(With inputs from IBNS)
