: The police here on Monday claimed to have cracked an arms and contraband smuggling racket with the arrest of six members of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang and recovered 5 weapons, 1.5-kg heroin and nearly nine lakhs of drug money from their possession.
The police said that three possible murders and two armed dacoities have been averted with these arrests.
Swapan Sharma, senior superintendent of police, Amritsar Rural, said that the arrests and recovery was the result of a ten-day long operation involving several specialised units and police stations of the district.
He said that this operation was a follow up to the late-night shooting that occurred on August 19 in Jandiala Guru near Amritsar, where two persons were arrested with 2 kg of heroin and a pistol.
Those arrested on Monday are Harwinder alias Kalu, Akash, Sandeep alias Seepa, Raja, Balraj and Divender alias Rana- all residents of Amritsar. They have 18 criminal cases registered against them and were actively involved in extortion and arms-contraband smuggling.
“Harwinder, Akash and Sandeep, all in their twenties, have been running a well organised extortion racket in Amritsar and nearby districts. They have been smuggling small arms of various calibre into the state from Madya Pardesh. Harwinder has been managing his own sub-group in Mattewal area. Members of this group have been identified and soon would be arrested,” the SSP said.
{{/usCountry}}“Harwinder, Akash and Sandeep, all in their twenties, have been running a well organised extortion racket in Amritsar and nearby districts. They have been smuggling small arms of various calibre into the state from Madya Pardesh. Harwinder has been managing his own sub-group in Mattewal area. Members of this group have been identified and soon would be arrested,” the SSP said.
{{/usCountry}}On the same lines, Raja, Balraj and Divender have been smuggling contrabands up till Delhi. Their contacts in other states have been traced down and teams have been formed to nab them as per police officials, the police officials said.
Investigations are going on and the police are working on further leads, the SSP said.
“People are themselves coming forward to give information about the extortion calls which were made by these arrested persons,” he said.
The SSP observed that this is a shift in people’s perception of police functioning and an important step towards better police-public relations.