Amritsar Police have successfully dismantled a cross-border arms smuggling operation, arresting five individuals and seizing a significant cache of illegal weapons, highlighting ongoing efforts to combat crime in Punjab.
Key Points
- Amritsar Police dismantled a cross-border arms smuggling module, arresting five individuals.
- Police recovered eight sophisticated pistols, including Zigana, Beretta, and Glock models, along with live cartridges.
- The smuggling module used drones to receive weapons and drugs from across the border.
- The arrested individuals have previous criminal records, including cases under the Arms Act and NDPS Act.
- Investigations are ongoing to identify other members of the smuggling network and trace forward and backward linkages.
Amritsar Police has busted a cross-border arms smuggling module with the arrest of five persons and recovery of eight sophisticated pistols along with live cartridges, DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Wednesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Arshdeep Singh (21), a resident of Guru Ki Wadali in Amritsar; Manpreet Singh alias Mann (26), a resident of village Bhaini in Amritsar; Sukhraj Singh alias Billa (29), a resident of village Naushera Dhalla in Tarn Taran; Rahul Gill alias Rahul (22), a native of Bhikhiwind and presently residing at village Drajke in Tarn Taran; and Arshdeep Singh alias Gagarh (25), a resident of village Lohke in Tarn Taran.
Criminal Backgrounds of the Accused
Arrested accused persons have previous criminal antecedents, with cases under the Arms Act, NDPS Act, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and Prison Act registered against them.
The recovered pistols include one 9MM Zigana, one .30 bore PX3 (Made in China), one .30 bore Beretta (Made in Italy), three 9MM Glock and two .32 bore pistols.
Investigation Details and Foreign Connections
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused were in contact with a foreign-based smuggler through virtual numbers.
The module was receiving consignments of weapons and drugs via drones from across the border for further distribution to criminal elements in Punjab, he said.
Ongoing Investigation
The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages in this case to identify other members associated with the network.
Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting on reliable inputs, police apprehended accused Rahul Gill alias Rahul and recovered two pistols from his possession.
During further investigation, acting on the disclosure statement of arrested accused Rahul, police have arrested accused Arshdeep alias Gagarh and recovered one Glock pistol from his possession, he said.
He said during thorough investigation of the case, the police teams identified and arrested two more operatives'Â Arshdeep and Manpreet alias Mann'Â while they were on a motorcycle near Meeri Peeri Academy Road in Chheharta, Amritsar and two more pistols from their possession, while another two pistols were recovered on their disclosures.
During interrogation, both accused Arshdeep and Manpreet alias Mann disclosed that the recovered weapons and ammunition had been purchased from accused Sukhraj alias Billa, said the CP.
based on their disclosure statements, accused Sukhraj alias Billa was subsequently arrested and one .30 bore Beretta pistol was recovered from his possession.
