New Delhi | The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday announced a cash reward of Rs 15 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias 'Landa', who is wanted in connection with a terror case in Punjab, officials said.

"A cash reward of Rs 15 lakh is announced for any information leading to arrest of Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias 'Landa'," the official spokesperson of the agency said, adding the identity of the informer will be kept secret.

A resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab, Sandhu, believed to be residing in Edmonton in Alberta in Canada, has been an absconder and is wanted by the NIA in a case related to the grenade attack on the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali in 2022.

The NIA registered the case in 2022 after it emerged that terrorist outfits and terror elements based abroad were operating in tandem with leaders and members of organised criminal gangs operating in northern states of the country to commit targeted killings and violent criminal acts.

"It had emerged that the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network was also engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition, explosives, IEDs across border through a widespread inter-state network of gunrunners, illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers and explosive traffickers," the spokesperson said.

The NIA has succeeded in getting Canada-based Arsh Dalla designated as an "individual terrorist" by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 9 in a separate case.