E-Paper
Cross-border arms smuggling module: 3 more members held; weapons, ₹1 crore recovered
The police said it has recovered ₹1.01 crore cash, 500 grams of heroin, 17 pistols along with 400 live cartridges, one MP-4 rifle along with 300 live cartridges,
The counter-intelligence (CI) wing of Punjab police on Saturday arrested three more members of the cross-border weapons smuggling module. Police had busted the module on Wednesday with the arrest of two members-- Jaskaran Singh and his aide Rattanbir Singh.
The module members were using drones for smuggling. With the arrest of the three more accused, the police said it had recovered ₹1.01 crore cash, 500 grams of heroin, 17 pistols along with 400 live cartridges, one MP-4 rifle along with 300 live cartridges, two weighing machines and two currency counting machines.
Those arrested have been identified as Surinder Singh of Barwala village in Tarn Taran, Harchand Singh and Gursahib Singh, both residents of Valtoha in Amritsar.
Earlier on Wednesday, the police had arrested two members of this module - Jaskaran Singh and his aide Rattanbir Singh — and recovered 10 foreign-made pistols from locations pinpointed by them.
Divulging more details, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that during investigations Jaskaran and Rattanbir revealed that their associate Surinder had picked up the consignment of arms/ammunition that was previously smuggled by them with the help of drones from Pakistan.
Following inputs, the police managed to arrest Surinder on Friday and recovered 10 pistols along with six magazines and 100 live cartridges from his possession, he added.
Yadav said that after investigations Surinder revealed that on the directions of Jaskaran Singh, he used to pick consignments from Rattanbir to further deliver them to two brothers Harchand and Gursahib, who were also arrested.
The police said they have recovered the remaining part of the consignment from Harchand and Gursahib’s possession which includes seven pistols, one MP-4 rifle and 500 grams of heroin, besides, ₹1.01 crore cash, weighing machines and currency counting machines.
The DGP said that further investigations are on to determine the other consignments from Pakistan, which may have been retrieved by this module for further delivery to unidentified persons for the commission of anti-national activities, he added.
AIG counter intelligence Amritsar Amarjit Singh Bajwa said that during investigations, accused Jaskaran confessed that he was in contact with a Pakistan-based smuggler identified as Asif, who used to deliver the consignment of narcotics and arms/ammunition from Pakistan using a drone and Rattanbir used to retrieve them on his directions.
