Chandigarh, Aug 23 (IANS) Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted an illegal arms smuggling network with the arrest of two individuals and recovered 10 sophisticated pistols along with magazines and 10 cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh and his namesake, both residents of Hawellian village in Tarn Taran. The recovered weapons include nine 9MM pistols and one .30 bore pistol. Apart from recovering weapons, police teams have also impounded their motorcycle, being used for transporting consignments.
DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were allegedly in contact with a foreign-based handler and receiving illegal arms consignments from across the border for further supply to other parties in Punjab.
Sharing operational details, he said police teams have received an input that two suspects– both identified as Gurpreet Singh — received huge consignments of weapons through a drone in the area of Hawellian village situated near Indo-Pak border fencing, on the instructions of their foreign-based handler, and they were expected to deliver the consignment of arms and ammunition to some other party.
Acting swiftly, the police apprehended both the accused from the area near Khasa village on the Amritsar-Attari road, and 10 sophisticated pistols along with magazines and cartridges were recovered from their possession, he said.
The DGP said further investigation is underway to establish the complete forward and backward linkages in this case to identify other accomplices and uncover the wider cross-border smuggling network. In this regard, a case was registered on August 22 under Sections 25, 25 (1) (A) and 25 (8) of the Arms Act, and Section 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the State Special Operation Cell police station in Amritsar.
–IANS
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