Arms smuggling racket busted, 2 held with 6 guns

Jalandhar, May 9

In an operation, the Jalandhar Counter Intelligence (CI) has busted an inter-state weapon smuggling syndicate, leading to the arrest of two smugglers. The operation yielded seizure of six pistols, comprising five .32 bore pistols and one .30 bore pistol, alongside seven magazines, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, on Thursday.

No place for gangsters

Punjab Police took action against two gangsters and arrested them. There is no place for gangsterism in Punjab. Whoever will try to take law into their own hands should remember that the gangsters no longer have any political patronage in Punjab. Strict action will be taken against such people. — Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister, on X

The arrested individuals have been identified as, Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Mattu, hailing from Rayya, and Rahul Masih from Chawinda Devi village in Amritsar district.

DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation indicate that the accused were working in a planned manner and had procured four large weapons’ consignment from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh in the last six months. Furthermore, the module members were in touch with a USA-based criminal entity and procured weapon consignment on their directions, he added.

Detailing the operation, AIG CI (Jalandhar) Navjot Singh Mahal, revealed that prompt action based on intelligence inputs led CI Jalandhar, in collaboration with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) SAS Nagar, to establish a specialised checkpoint near Jalandhar Cantonment Railway Station resulted in the apprehension of the suspects.

He said an FIR under Sections 25 and 25 (8) of the Arms Act has been lodged against the accused at the Police Station State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) Amritsar.