Chandigarh: Punjab police on Thursday claimed to have busted cross-border organised arms smuggling module near the Indo–Pak international border with the arrest of two weapon suppliers and recovered 27 sophisticated .30 bore pistols along with 470 live cartridges from their possession in Fazilka.
Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, said that the accused have been identified as Mangal Singh and Gurmeet Singh, both residents of Fazilka district.
DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that this huge weapon consignment was sourced from Pakistan through a foreign-based entity, intended for use by criminal gangs in the state. The arrested accused were attempting to deliver these arms to ground operatives of criminal groups on the directions of their foreign handlers, he said.
The AIG, Counter Intelligence (CI), Ferozepur, Gursewak Singh Brar said that acting upon reliable inputs, the police teams launched a secret operation in the Fazilka area. During the operation, two suspected individuals were apprehended near village Muhar Jamsher, close to the Indo-Pak International fencing, in Fazilka, and recovered a large cache of illegal firearms and cartridges.
6 HELD WITH 6 PISTOLS, Rs 5.75 LAKH HAWALA MONEY
Meanwhile, in another development, the police also claimed to have arrested a kingpin among six arms smugglers with six weapons and Rs 5.75 lakh hawala money in Amritsar.
DGP Yadav said that the accused have been identified as Pargat Singh of Tarn Taran, Ajaybir Singh of Amritsar, Karanbir Singh, Shri Ram and Mehakpreet Singh, all from Amritsar and Dinesh Kumar of Jalandhar. The recovered weapons include one 9 MM Glock, three .30 bore PX5 pistols, one .32 bore and .30 bore pistol. The syndicate was being operated by arrested accused Mehakpreet. Dinesh was arrested along with Rs 5.75 lakh Hawala money.
