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Chandigarh, Jul 25 (PTI) Punjab’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), in coordination with other agencies, secured the deportation of a fugitive gangster from Jakarta after a six-month-long hunt, achieving a breakthrough against transnational organised crime, police said on Saturday.
The gangster, Jobanjit Singh alias Joban Billa, was detained in Indonesia on July 20 and subsequently deported to India.
He was taken into custody by the Punjab Police from Mumbai Airport and is being brought to Punjab for further investigation, Punjab Police DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Saturday. The fugitive was detained after the AGTF, along with the state’s Overseas Fugitive Tracking and Extradition Cell (OFTEC) and central agencies, launched Operation Nomad Hunt.
“The
operation marks the successful culmination of Operation Nomad Hunt, a six-month-long intelligence-led international manhunt involving sustained surveillance, strategic intelligence gathering and close coordination with national and international agencies,” Yadav said. The DGP said Singh has been wanted in multiple heinous criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Arms Act offences.
Singh fled abroad on January 9, 2025, using a passport prepared on fake particulars of a Gorakhpur resident. The passport was issued from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on March 8, 2024, a Punjab police statement said. DGP Yadav, as per the statement, said that Singh was evading arrest by operating across multiple countries.
Singh was earlier hiding in the United Arab Emirates, from where he travelled to Georgia and from there to Indonesia, he said.
“Punjab Police had issued a Red Corner Notice against accused Joban Billa, and inputs regarding his fake passport and whereabouts were shared with central agencies at different intervals. In addition, five INTERPOL references were also issued,” he said, while adding that sustained and persistent efforts led to the detention of the accused in Indonesia. Operation Nomad Hunt was executed under the close supervision of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) AGTF Promod Ban and led by Superintendent of Police (SP) AGTF/OFTEC Bikramjit Singh Brar.
ADGP Promod Ban said that the accused is wanted in four murder cases registered in Punjab: the murder of Jarnail Singh at Sathiala Village in May 2023, the murder of Deepu Ajnala in January 2024, the murder of 12-year-old boy Gursewak Singh in March 2025 and the murder of Vicky Chugh in March 2025. PTI SUN KSI KSI
