4 smugglers held in Amritsar; pistols, hawala money seized
The CIA staff of the Amritsar (Rural) police have arrested four persons and seized four sophisticated pistols and Rs 3 lakh hawala money from their possession.
Those arrested were identified as Jagroop Singh, alias Baba, of Boparai Khurd village, Hardeep Singh of Chak Mukand village, Rajbir Singh, alias Gullu, of Mohalla Nanaksar (Tarn Taran) and Arsal Singh, alias Rasal Singh, of Jhanjhoti village in Rajasansi, Amritsar. They were linked to Pakistani smugglers.
Amritsar (Rural) SSP Maninder Singh said apart from smuggling weapons, the accused were also involved in facilitating illegal financial transactions through hawala. The police seized four 9 mm Glock pistols along with five magazines and Rs 3.05 lakh hawala money from them.
A case has been registered at the Gharinda police station in this connection and efforts were on to trace forward and backward linkages of the cross-border smuggling network, said the SSP.
He said the CIA staff had inputs that Jagroop Singh and Hardeep Singh had links with Pakistan-based smugglers and that they used to sneak in weapons from the neighbouring nation. He said the two suspects were arrested from near an under-construction bridge at Khasa. During preliminary investigations, the police found they had links with Rajbir and Arsal Singh, who were also arrested.
The police also seized two mobile phones and a bike from them. The phones were being forensically examined, said the SSP.
