Four-day police remand for weapon smugglers

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 14

The two arms smugglers Jatinder Singh and Navtej Singh, both residents of Thatha village, who were arrested by the State Special Operation Cell on Tuesday, were sent to four-day police remand for further interrogation.

The duo was arrested by a team of the SSOC from the Chabal area in Tarn Taran with four 9mm Glock pistols which were smuggled from Pakistan.

As per preliminary probe, they had been in the illegal trade of cross- border smuggling for quite some times now, but they did not have any case registered against them.

Ahead of the Independence Day celebrations, the Punjab Police yesterday claimed to have busted yet another trans-border smuggling module. The two suspects were travelling on a bike (bearing number PB76A8099) when the SSOC team intercepted them following a tip-off.

Giving more information, DGP Gaurav Yadav said the suspects were in touch with various Pak-based anti-national entities and had recently procured a consignment of smuggled weapons. They were going to deliver it to a party near Baba Budhaji Charitable Hospital near Chabal in Tarn Taran. Acting swiftly on the input, the SSOC team cordoned off the designated area in a planned manner and apprehended both the suspects after recovering the consignment of weapon from them, the DGP said. The consignment was smuggled through drones by their cross-border handlers, he added.

Sukhminder Singh Mann, AIG, SSOC (Amritsar), said investigations were on to determine past smuggling activities of both the suspects. A case under Section 25 of the Arms act and Section 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered against the suspects at the SSOC police station here.