E-Paper
Drug, arms smuggling network busted in Amritsar, three held
he recovered pistols include three 9MM Glocks and seven .30 bore pistols; Amritsar police have also recovered a motorcycle used in smuggling activities
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The Amritsar Commissionerate Police dismantled a drug trafficking and illegal arms smuggling network with the arrest of three people and recovered 10 pistols and 1 kg heroin from their possession, said Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Monday.
Those arrested have been identified as Gautam alias Ajay of Sensra Khurd village, Ravi Sher Singh of Guru Ka Bagh village, and Rajbir Singh alias Raja of Basarke Bhaini village, who is currently residing in Pal Avenue.The recovered pistols include three 9MM Glocks and seven .30 bore pistols. Police teams have also recovered a motorcycle used in smuggling activities.
DGP Yadav said preliminary investigations revealed that the accused were in contact with foreign-based smugglers who allegedly supplied illegal weapons to further distribute them to criminal elements. Further investigation was underway to trace backward and forward linkages and identify other persons involved in the network, he said.
Sharing operational details, Amritsar commissioner of police Harmanbir Singh Gill said acting on intelligence, police teams arrested Gautam and Ravi and recovered two Glock pistols and a motorcycle from them. On Gautam’s disclosure, police recovered seven more pistols, he said.
He added that police teams arrested their third accomplice, Rajbir, and recovered one more .30 bore pistol along with 1.022 kg of heroin from him, taking the total seizure of firearms to 10 pistols.
He said both Gautam and Rajbir have criminal backgrounds, with Gautam facing two previous cases under the Arms Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, while Rajbir has been facing five cases under NDPS Act.
A case under sections 25(6), 25(7), and 25(8) of the Arms Act and sections 21 (C) and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered at the Cantonment police station in Amritsar.
