Two cross-border weapon smuggling modules busted

The Amritsar and Tarn Taran police have busted two cross-border weapon smuggling modules in separate instances and confiscated as many as nine pistols from five persons on Monday.

Apart from this, two individuals were also nabbed with Glock pistols in different cases.

The special cell of Amritsar rural police busted an international arms smuggling racket with the arrest of four persons and recovered four pistols, including two Glock pistols from them.

Those arrested included Swaraj and Gaurav of Guru Ka Khuh in Tarn Taran, Arshdeep Singh of Masatgarh village (Tarn Taran) and Gulab Singh of Chuslewar village (Tarn Taran).

According to police, the accused had links with Pakistan and France-based arms smugglers. Maninder Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar Rural, said that as per preliminary investigations, the accused had links with a France-based weapon smuggler, identified as Gopi, who originally hailed from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur. They were trafficking weapons from Pakistan at his behest.

“The weapon consignment was smuggled with the help of drones,” said the SSP while adding that an FIR under relevant sections of the Arms Act has been registered in this connection.

He said their links with Pakistan were also being explored while adding that they were in contact through WhatsApp. The antecedents of the four smugglers were also being ascertained apart from looking into their backward and forward linkages, said the SSP.

The police have seized a Glock pistol (Gen-18, 9mm), a Glock pistol (Gen-19, 9mm), two-star mark pistols of .30 bore caliber, two live cartridges of .30 bore, three mobile phones used for smuggling and a scooter used for smuggling purposes.

Meanwhile, the Tarn Taran police busted another arms smuggling module and arrested one accused along with five foreign-made pistols while his associate managed to escape from the spot.

SSP Deepak Pareek said that the Sarai Amanat Khan police, during patrolling duty at Naushehra Dhalla village, intercepted a motorcycle yesterday. On seeing the police party, one of the accused riding the bike managed to escape while the other suspect was arrested.

He was identified as Surjit Singh of Bhaini Rajputan. During a search, the police recovered five foreign-made pistols along with a magazine from his possession.

The absconder was identified as Akashdeep Singh Bhola of the same village. Initial probe revealed that they were involved in trans-border smuggling of illegal weapons via drones and supplied these arms to various districts of Punjab.

The accused Aksdeep Singh alias Bola has been named in the case registered under section 25 (6), (7), (8) of the Arms Act and section 10,11,12 of the Aircraft Act.

In another report, the Chabal police arrested Jugraj Singh alias Raja, a resident of Chung village and recovered an illegal pistol with five cartridges. A case has been registered.

Meanwhile, Ajnala police have also arrested Daljit Singh of Saidpur Khurd village with an Austria-made Glock pistol from near Gujjapir village.

Amritsar