Cross-border arms smuggling module busted, 6 arrested

The Amritsar police commissionerate have busted a cross-border weapon smuggling module with the arrest of six persons, including an operative of a weapon syndicate being operated from foreign shores. Besides, the police also seized six weapons along with Rs 5.75 lakh of hawala money from them.

Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said the racket had smashed the trans-border organised arms smuggling module following an intelligence input.

Those arrested were identified as Pargat Singh of Vaan Tara Singh village in Tarn Taran, Ajaybir Singh, alias Ajay, of Gali Punjab Singh in Amritsar, Karanbir Singh, alias Karan, Ram of Pal Avenue here, Mehakpreet Singh, alias Rohit, of Officer Colony here and Dinesh Kumar of Adampur in Jalandhar.

The recovered weapons include one 9MM Glock, three .30 bore PX5 pistols, one .32 bore and .30 bore pistol.

Sharing details, Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the syndicate was being operated by Mehakpreet Singh at the behest of his foreign-based handlers via social media. During the operation, multiple recoveries were made at different stages of investigation, he said.

Bhullar said accused Pargat Singh was initially arrested with two weapons, which were part of cross-border consignments and meant to be distributed further through the network.

Ajaybir, Karanbir and Shri Ram, other members of the module, were arrested along with one pistol. Mehakpreet, the kingpin of the racket, was arrested from Goa and three weapons were recovered from his possession.

The Police Commissioner said a probe revealed that the money earned through the arms smuggling trade was routed through hawala network in which accused Dinesh was arrested along with Rs 5.75 lakh of hawala money.

A case has been registered and further investigations are in progress to identify their backward and forward linkages.