Chandigarh: In a major breakthrough, Amritsar rural police has averted a terror plot targeting a police establishment with the recovery of an improvised explosive device (IED), weighing 690 grams, along with an electronic detonator, battery, timer, and iron box found lying in a wax-wrapped packet, Punjab's Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Sunday.  

The DGP said that after the seizure on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, the explosive material was handled as per established security protocols and defused by the bomb disposal squad.

"The Amritsar Rural Police has foiled a design of anti-national elements and averted a potential threat to public safety," he said.

The DGP said that further investigation is underway to identify and apprehend those behind the plot.

Sharing operational details, Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar-Rural, Kanwalpreet Singh Chahal stated that checking points had already been intensified and government establishments were also being closely monitored.

In this connection, on the night of August 15-16, while Assistant Sub-Inspector Kulbir Singh was carrying out night patrolling, a suspicious black-coloured, wax-wrapped packet was found lying in the jurisdiction of the police post of Gaggomahal, he said, while adding that on examination it was found to contain a suspected IED along with electronic detonator, a battery, a timer, and an iron box.

The SSP said that the bomb disposal squad was called to the spot, and the explosive material was safely destroyed on the spot, while the remaining items were taken into police custody. In this regard, a first information report dated August 16 under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act has been registered at the Police Station Ramdas in Amritsar-Rural.