Arms smuggler held during Punjab police’s special ops ahead of I-Day

Tightening security ahead of Independence Day, Punjab police on Saturday conducted a special operation ‘OPS Seal-VII’ aimed at checking vehicles in 10 districts of the state

Tightening security ahead of Independence Day, Punjab police on Saturday conducted a special operation ‘OPS Seal-VII’ aimed at checking vehicles in 10 districts of the state. During checking, a weapon smuggler was arrested in Patiala and four pistols were recovered from his possession, officials said.

Four .32 bore pistols and magazines were recovered from the accused during the checking in Patiala (HT File)

The operation was aimed at keeping vigil around the movement of drug traffickers, bootleggers and other anti-social elements on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.

Special DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla said that police checkpoints involving over 1,100 police personnel were set up at 91 entry and exit points of 10 districts, which share boundaries with four states and UT Chandigarh. The 10 inter-state border districts are Pathankot, Muktsar, Fazilka, Ropar, SAS Nagar, Patiala, Sangrur, Mansa, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda.

During the operation, police also verified vehicle registration numbers using the VAHAN mobile app, Shukla added.

“As many as 3,668 vehicles entering/exiting the state were checked, of which 139 were challaned and 12 were impounded. The police have also registered 14 first information reports (FIRs) after arresting 14 persons. As many as 431 suspicious persons were rounded up for questioning,” he said.

He said during checking, the police in Patiala managed to arrest a weapon smuggler identified as Tarun, a resident of Rajasthan when he was on the way to deliver a weapon consignment. The police recovered four .32 bore pistols along with magazines from his possession, Shukla said, adding further investigations are on.