Eight held, 11 pistols seized as Punjab Police crack illegal arms network

Chandigarh, June 18 (IANS) The Amritsar Commissionerate Police have busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of eight accused and the recovery of 11 sophisticated pistols from their possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said here on Thursday.

Those arrested have been identified as Gulabjit Singh (21), Harpreet Singh (23), Gurpreet Singh (24), Kuljit Singh (39), Shamsher Singh (40), Aman Rana (20), Sharanjit Singh and Ajay Singh (23).

The recovered weapons include four .30 bore pistols made in China, four .30 bore PX5 Storm pistols, one .30 bore Zigana pistol, one 9 mm Glock pistol made in Austria and one 9 mm pistol made in Austria, along with eight cartridges.

Police have also impounded the motorcycle used by the accused.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were allegedly in contact with foreign-based operatives involved in the supply of illegal weapons.

The recovered arms were intended for distribution among criminal elements and for use in extortion, violent crimes and other unlawful activities.

The DGP said further investigation is underway to identify other associates connected with the network and ascertain further recoveries and arrests.

Commissioner of Police (Amritsar) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that, acting on specific information and carrying out a planned intelligence-based operation, police teams arrested accused Gulabjit and Harpreet and recovered two pistols from their possession.

Based on further investigation, police teams arrested another accused, Gurpreet, and recovered four pistols from his possession, he said.

Bhullar added that, based on the disclosure statement of accused Gurpreet, police teams arrested his two associates, Kuljit Singh and Shamsher Singh, resulting in the recovery of two additional pistols from their possession.

Bhullar said that during interrogation, Gurpreet disclosed that he was in contact with a foreign-based gangster through social media applications and that the latter was arranging illegal consignments of weapons through drones at different locations in the Attari sector.

During the course of further investigation, police teams arrested two more accused — Aman Rana and Sharanjit Singh — and recovered two more pistols from their possession.

He said the investigation has further revealed that accused Harpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Sharanjit Singh and Ajay Singh were also involved in previous cases pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, offences under the Arms Act, the NDPS Act and theft.

–IANS

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