Amidst the ongoing campaign to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police have busted an Interstate Arms smuggling gang with the arrest of its three members from the area of Fatehgarh Churrian in Batala, said Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
Those arrested have been identified as Anmol Singh of village Thetharke in Batala, Karandeep Masih of village Gurchak in Batala and Jagroop Singh in Shahpur Jajan in Batala. Police teams have also recovered 11 pistols— including six .32 bore pistols and five .30 bore pistols— along with magazines and 15 live cartridges, Rs 2 lakhs cash and one Splendour Motorcycle bearing registration number PB18P5023.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that acting swiftly on secret information about illegal weapons being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to supply them to criminal elements in the state, Police teams from the Amritsar Counter Intelligence wing launched a special operation and apprehended three accused persons from the area of Fatehgarh Churrian in Batala when they were travelling on their motorcycle.
“During questioning, the arrested accused persons have disclosed that they were receiving money through 'Hawala' from their USA-based accomplices to buy arms and ammunition from Madhya Pradesh,” he said, while adding that Police teams are putting all efforts to unearth the whole network, identify the complete procurement and supply chain across to bust the network.
The USA-based accomplices have been identified as Kirandeep Singh Randhawa, a native of village Gurchak in Batala and Jarmanjit Singh, a native of Naurangabad in Tarn Taran.
Preliminary investigations have also revealed that the gang was hatching a conspiracy to target their rival gang members.
A case FIR number 43 dated 22.10.2023 has been registered under section 25 of the Arms Act, sections 109, 115, 120 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 3 and 4 of the Money Laundering Act at Police Stations SSOC Amritsar.