Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa declared terrorist under UAPA

New Delhi, December 30

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has designated Lakhbir Singh Landa, a 33-year-old Canada-based gangster, as a terrorist under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA.

Landa was involved in a rocket attack on the Punjab Police’s Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali in 2021 among other terrorist activities, according to the MHA.

The Centre has identified him as a member of the notorious Khalistan group, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). Landa is said to have close ties with Harvinder Singh, also known as Rinda, a gangster based in Pakistan who has collaborated with the BKI. According to official sources, Landa was not only responsible for the rocket attack in Mohali but was also involved in the supply of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), arms, sophisticated weapons, and explosives from across the border to various modules engaged in terrorist activities in Punjab.

Landa, who fled to Canada in 2017, was born in Tarn Taran district of Punjab in 1989. He also had close ties with several Khalistani terrorists based in Canada, including Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs for Justice and Hardeep Singh Nijjar of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), among others, sources in the Home Ministry said.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing in Canada earlier this year has strained ties between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in Canadian Parliament that India was involved in his killing.