Three cross-border weapon modules busted, juvenile among nine held

The smuggling of sophisticated weapons by Pakistan-based anti-national entities continues unabated with Punjab Police seizing 13 weapons smuggled from the neighbouring country in three separate operations in the past 24 hours.

While the city police busted two cross-border modules and recovered seven pistols from four persons, including a juvenile, the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of Punjab Police here confiscated six pistols from five persons.

Giving details, Police Commissioner, Amritsar (city), Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said those arrested have been identified as Sikanderjeet Singh (19) of Bhagwanpura village in Tarn Taran; Pradeep Singh, alias Babbal (43), of Antarjami Colony; Jarnail Singh (34) of New Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar here, and a 17-year-old juvenile from Tarn Taran.

The police recovered two Glock pistols, four .30 bore Star pistols and one .32 bore pistol along with six live cartridges. Apart from recovering weapons, police teams also impounded their motorcycle being used for delivering the weapon consignment.

Bhullar said initial probe revealed that the accused were in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers and had recently retrieved weapon consignments from near the International Border.

“These weapons, which have been smuggled via drone, were meant to fuel gang rivalries and disrupt peace in the region,” he said.

According to the police, both Sikander and a juvenile have their home close to the Indo-Pak border. They were in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers. They retrieved the drone-dropped consignments from the locations provided by them.

In the second module, accused Pardeep and Jarnail are associates of deceased Ravneet Singh, alias Sonu Mota, who was in rivalry with the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang. These weapons are sophisticated pistols, which have been received from Pakistan smugglers and were handed over to them by slain Sonu Mota prior to his death, he said, adding that the recovery of these weapons averted major criminal activity in the area.

Meanwhile, the Counter Intelligence wing, Amritsar, following the intelligence-led operation held five operatives and seized six pistols. The seized weapons include four Glock 9mm pistols, two .30bore pistols along with magazines and eight bullets.

Those arrested included Jagroop Singh of Dhun village in Tarn Taran, Navdeep Singh and Joban Singh of Sur Singh village (Tarn Taran), Arshdeep Singh of Shaliwal here and Gurlal Singh of Rajoke village (Tarn Taran).

The police said they were intercepted from the Panjwar village bus stop where they were waiting to deliver the weapon consignment of gangsters.