Four arms smugglers held in Faridkot with foreign-made pistols

The firearms include two Czechoslovakia-made Ceska Zbrojovka-Narodni Podnik Strakonice (6.35mm) automatic pistols and a Brazil-made Taurus pistol (9mm) that fetch lakhs of rupees in the black market, said officials

Faridkot : Police have arrested four persons with firearms, including sophisticated foreign-made pistols, in Faridkot district, police said on Sunday.

Police have arrested four persons with firearms, including sophisticated foreign-made pistols, in Faridkot district, police said on Sunday

The firearms include two Czechoslovakia-made Ceska Zbrojovka-Narodni Podnik Strakonice (6.35mm) automatic pistols and a Brazil-made Taurus pistol (9mm) that fetch lakhs of rupees in the black market, said officials. A .32 bore country-made pistol and cartridges were also recovered from their possession, they added.

The accused were identified as Lakhwinder Singh Lakha of Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohammad Tariq of Uttar Pradesh and Balwan Singh of Haryana.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajpal Singh said that on August 3, Gagandeep Singh and Satpal Singh were arrested with a 9mm pistol. “During interrogation, Gagandeep revealed that he gets the supply of illegal weapons from Uttar Pradesh through Lakha, Tariq and Balwan. He also confessed that he had ordered the supply of more firearms. Following leads, the Faridkot crime investigation agency (CIA) team traced the three weapon smugglers and arrested,” he said.

“It has been found in investigation that the accused procured illegal weapons through suppliers based in other states,” he added.

The police suspect the arms could have been smuggled into India from the eastern border.