Amritsar police bust illegal arms racket

The smuggling of sophisticated arms from the neighbouring country via drones continues unabated with the Amritsar police today busting yet another cross-border weapons smuggling module. The police also arrested four members of the gang leading to the recovery of seven pistols from them.

Those arrested were identified as Akashdeep Singh alias Akash (20) of Daoke village located near international border, Ramanpreet Singh (23) of Bagha Kalan village here, Pratap Singh (25) of Sur Singh village in Ferozepur and Sarbjit Singh alias Babbal (25) of Debi Wala Bazar here.

Among the recovered pistols were two Italy-made 9mm PX5, two Austria-made 9mm Glock and three .30 bore pistols.

“The accused were in contact with Pakistan-based smugglers and have been receiving consignments of illegal weapon near the Indo-Pak border. The arrested accused were operating from border villages and supplying arms to gangsters in the state,” said Director General of Punjab Police Gaurav Yadav on Thursday.

Further investigation is in progress to establish the forward and backward linkages of the arrested gang members to further uncover the entire network, he added. Sharing details of the operation, Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that the Punjab Police was on high alert ahead of Independence Day celebrations and the Chheharta police had received specific intelligence inputs leading to the arrest of Akash and Raman from the area, resulting in the recovery of four pistols— two PX5 9mm and two of .30 bore. Subsequently, their two accomplices, Pratap Singh and Sarbjeet Singh alias Babbal, were also nabbed from the same area followed up with confiscation of three additional pistols from them.

Bhullar said Akash resides close to the international border and he along with Raman used to receive consignments of arms from across the fencing, while their associates Sarbjeet and Pratap were coordinating and handling the weapon supply operations.

“With their arrest, the police have averted a major criminal activity,” claimed the Police Commissioner while adding that more arrests and recoveries are likely in the coming days.