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Amritsar encounter case: Three absconding smugglers held
The Police have arrested three smugglers who escaped during an encounter in Chheharta. The arrested men have been identified as Gurjinder Singh, Hardev Singh and Varinder Singh
Police on Saturday arrested three smugglers, who managed to escape during an encounter in the busy Narayanghar locality in Chheharta. The arrested men have been identified as Gurjinder Singh alias Billa of Tarn Taran’s Sarhali village, Hardev Singh alias Gopi of Chheharta and Varinder Singh alias Mithu of Lopoke in Amritsar.
On Thursday, two drug smugglers identified as Baldev Singh alias Robin of Chheharta and Robin Singh alias Robin of Tarn Taran’s Kazikot village were arrested after an encounter with Amritsar police in the Narayanghar locality. However, the three accused who were arrested on Saturday had managed to escape taking advantage of busy market. Police had also recovered five sophisticated pistols from the encounter site.
Addressing a press conference, commissioner of police (CP) Jaskaran Singh said Billa, Gopi and Mithu were arrested from the Ajnala side on the basis of a tip-off. “Our teams had been chasing them since Thursday. We have also registered a case against one Makka of Sran village in Ajnala sub-division for providing shelter to the absconding accused,” he said. He further said during the arrest of Billa, Gopi and Mithu, they have also recovered 15 live rounds of .30 and .32 bore pistols. According to police, all the accused had been involved in cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons. “We have also identified one more accomplice of the arrested men as Rahul. Raids are on to nab him,” the CP said. Police sources said a doctor who had provided first aid to one of the absconding accused has also been detained for questioning.
Meanwhile, a senior police official said the accused had been working as a rival gang of a gang led by notorious smuggler Ranjit Singh alias Cheeta. Cheeta is key accused in 532 kg heroin haul seizure case, which was recovered at the Attari border. Cheeta was arrested in 2020 in Haryana while his relative Harpal Singh is operating the rival gang. Earlier, police had arrested Harpal’s father Malkiat Singh with 16 kg heroin which was smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said their teams were working to identify and nab those to whom the accused used to smuggle drugs and weapons.
