Drug peddler hurt in shooting in Amritsar, two pistols seized

An alleged drug peddler identified as Vikram Singh (22) of Bhakna village was injured and caught after a brief shooting with the Amritsar police near Bhagtanwala garbage dump here today. He suffered a bullet injury in the leg and was rushed to a hospital for treatment.

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Vikram is the prime accused who had fired upon the Gharinda police party on June 11 near Neshta village during the seizure of 5 kg of heroin, which was smuggled from Pakistan. Gurjit Singh (35), a resident of Rasulpur village, Tarn Taran, was killed in the firing while the cops had a narrow escape at that time. He had come to meet some relatives at the village.

Sharing details, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Police Commissioner, who visited the spot on Friday, said that Vikram, a motorcycle mechanic, was involved in cross-border drug and weapons smuggling. The police have confiscated two pistols — a 9mm Austria-made Glock pistol and a star-marked Pakistan-made pistol — from his possession.

He said a police team of Anngarh police chowki had been holding a naka near the Bhagtanwala grain market when they saw a motorcyclist and signalled him to stop. The accused tried to take a U-turn to flee, but slipped because of mud on the road.

“When the police teams tried to catch him, he opened fire at the cops, who had a narrow escape. In the retaliatory fire, Vikram suffered a bullet injury in the leg,” said Bhullar.

He said Vikram was associated with another drug smuggler Happy, who had already been arrested by the rural police.