Arrested accused were woking under directions of Pak-based smuggler Rana : DGP
Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh/Amritsar-
In a major intelligence-led operation amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with links to Pakistan and arrested five of its operatives and recovered six sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.
Those arrested have been identified as Jagroop Singh of Dhun in Tarn Taran, Navdeep Singh of Patti Lahian Di in Tarn Taran, Arshdeep Singh of Shaliwal in Amritsar, Gurlal Singh of Rajoke in Tarn Taran and Joban Singh of Patti Mana Ki in Tarn Taran. According to information, arrested accused Jagroop Singh and Navdeep Singh are habitual criminals and have criminal background with cases pertaining to Arms Act and NDPS act registered against them.
The recovered weapons include four 9MM Glock pistols and two .30 bore pistols along with magazines and live cartridges.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused persons were acting upon the directions of Pakistan-based smuggler identified as Rana, who has been sending consignments of illegal weapons from across the border. The arrested accused were further supplying the arms to criminals and gangsters in Punjab disturb peace and harmony of the border state, he said.
The DGP said that teams of CI Amritsar received specific intelligence about retrieval of weapon consignments from Indo-Pak border areas falling under the jurisdiction of districts Tarn Taran and Amritsar. Acting swiftly, police teams have intercepted above five persons from near Bus Stop Panjwar, situated on Amritsar-Bhikhiwind Road, when they were waiting for gangsters, to whom the consignment was to be delivered further and recovered illegal weapons from their possession, he said.
He said that further investigations are underway to uncover the network’s backward and forward linkages.
A case FIR No. 42 dated 01-08-2025 under sections 25, 25(1)(A) and 25(1)(B) of the Arms Act and section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.