ARRESTED ACCUSED WERE RECEIVING WEAPON CONSIGNMENTS VIA CROSS-BORDER ROUTES FOR FURTHER SUPPLY TO CRIMINAL ELEMENTS: DGP GAURAV YADAV, MORE ARRESTS AND RECOVERIES ARE LIKELY IN COMING DAYS AS INVESTIGATION PROGRESSES, SAYS CP ASR GURPREET BHULLAR
Face2News/Chandigarh/Amritsar
In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has dismantled a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of two individuals and recovered seven sophisticated pistols along with 40 live cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Surjit Singh alias Rana (33), a resident of village Sur Singh in Tarn Taran and Gulbagh Singh alias Batth (26), a resident of Bhai Manj Singh Road in Amritsar. The latter is operating a de-addiction centre at Bhai Manj Singh Road in Sultanwind, Amritsar.
The recovered pistols include one 9MM Glock, one .30 bore Tisas Turkiye, one .30 bore Special Modified Pistol, four .30 bore pistols.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has reveals that the arrested accused were in contact with foreign-based smugglers through social media apps and were receiving illegal weapon consignments through cross-border routes for further supply to criminal elements.
The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish backward and forward linkages in this case to identify other associates involved in the illegal arms supply chain.
Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting on reliable intelligence, police teams had arrested Surjit alias Rana and Gulbagh alias Batth after recovering two pistols from their possession. During sustained interrogation and on the disclosure statements of the arrested accused, police teams further recovered five more sophisticated pistols, taking the total recovery to seven, he said.
The CP said that the verification of criminal antecedents has revealed that accused Surjit alias Rana is already wanted in a commercial quantity narcotics case registered at Police Station Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran, indicating his involvement in organized criminal activities. More arrests and recoveries are likely in coming days as investigation progresses, he added.
