India, Canada decide to enhance security cooperation: MEA
New Delhi (PTI): India and Canada have agreed to boost security cooperation including in combating terrorism and transnational crimes, the external affairs ministry said on Friday against the backdrop of Ottawa's decision to list the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity.
Canada on Monday designated the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity for "violently targeting" certain communities and creating a "climate of fear and intimidation".
"Acts of violence and terror have no place in Canada, especially those that target specific communities to create a climate of fear and intimidation," the Canadian government said in a statement.
The listing of the Bishnoi gang came over a week after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Canadian counterpart Nathalie Drouin held talks in New Delhi.
Asked about Canada's listing of the gang, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal at his weekly media briefing referred to the productive talks held between Doval and Drouin on September 18.
"Both sides had held productive discussions on advancing the bilateral relationship in areas such as counter terrorism, combating transnational organised crime and intelligence exchanges," he said.
"They agreed to strengthen security cooperation and further reinforce existing mechanisms of engagement. The two sides remain in touch on all these issues," he added.
The resolve by the two sides to boost security cooperation came over three-and-half months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.
India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India had dismissed Trudeau's accusation as "absurd".
In October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case.
India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.
However, Liberal Party leader Carney's victory in the parliamentary election in April helped in beginning the process to reset relations.
Both sides have already posted their high commissioners in each other's capitals.
The two countries also agreed to revive several mechanisms to advance relations in a range of areas.
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J-K: Six held with drugs, assets worth Rs 73 lakh attached in Udhampur
Jammu (PTI): Six persons were taken into custody during an intensified anti-narcotics crackdown, with police recovering contraband substances and over Rs 23 lakh in Doda and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday.
In a parallel action, properties worth over Rs 73 lakh linked to drug peddlers were also attached in Udhampur district under relevant legal provisions, the police said.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mohd Aslam said three persons, including a woman, were detained during a raid on a house at Dak Mohalla in the main town following recovery of 85 grams of suspected brown sugar and over Rs 23 lakh on Sunday evening.
He identified the woman as Zareena Begum, stating that she had been under police surveillance following inputs indicating her involvement in drug peddling.
Besides Zareena, officials said her daughter and son-in-law were also picked up by police during the raid.
“We have taken three individuals into custody. Their roles are being examined, and based on that, arrests will be made. We are continuing raids at other suspected locations,” Aslam said.
Three drug peddlers --Pardeep Singh of Hiranagar, Rahees Butt of Billawar and Ali Sen of Amritsar (Punjab) -- were arrested along with heroin at different places in Kathua district, a police spokesman said.
He said while 2.79 gm of heroin was seized from Singh, 2.66 gm were recovered Butt. Similarly, 303 gm of heroin was seized from Sen who was intercepted near Berrian-Pattan village while moving in a private car from Bhagthali to Maggar Khad on the Jammu-Pathankot highway.
All the three were booked under the NDPS Act and further investigations are on, the spokesman said.
In Udhampur, the spokesman said properties worth Rs 73 lakh were attached in two separate cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The attached properties included a newly constructed residential house, a car, a motorcycle and a mobile phone with a total value of Rs 65 Lakh, belonging to accused Saif Ali who was booked under the NDPS case in Majalta area early this year, he said.
In another action, movable property worth Rs 8 lakh comprising a car, belonging to accused Danish Butt of Doda has been attached under Section 68(F) NDPS Act in connection with an FIR registered at Rehambal police station, the spokesman said.
