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Mohali: Interstate arms smuggling racket busted, four nabbed
The accused were identified as Gurmanjot Singh of Chakkar, Kuldeep Singh alias Manak of Lehra village, Sukhchain Singh of Moom village in Barnala and Sandeep Singh of Bhaini Gujran village, all in Ludhiana
The special state operation cell (SSOC) on Saturday busted an interstate arms smuggling racket after nabbing four members of the gang. The team recovered nine .32 bore country-made pistols, bearing distinctive “star” marks, and eight live cartridges from them. Police also impounded the car used in the crime.
The accused were identified as Gurmanjot Singh of Chakkar, Kuldeep Singh alias Manak of Lehra village, Sukhchain Singh of Moom village in Barnala and Sandeep Singh of Bhaini Gujran village, all in Ludhiana.
The accused who were returning to Punjab from Madhya Pradesh (MP), after collecting the weapons, in a white Swift Dzire car, were nabbed by the SSOC team led by sub-inspector (SI) Harminder Singh and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sandeep Singh.
Following a tip off, an eight member Mohali SSOC team along with Patiala CIA laid a check post at Patran-Khanauri road in Patiala and stopped the accused.
Director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the accused were held with the weapons brought from Sendhwan in Barwani, MP, with the intention to carry out criminal activity in the state.
He added that while some of the weapons were to be used to execute organised crime, the remaining weapons were to be distributed to members of other gangs in Punjab and neighbouring states.
Accused planned to start own gang: Police
Notably, both Kuldeep Singh and Gurmanjot Singh met each other at Ludhiana jail in 2016. Both were booked in multiple cases including attempt to murder, Arms Act, snatching and theft.
Kuldeep, according to the sources, had indulged in multiple brawls in the past and wanted to eliminate his rivals and requested Gurmanjot to arrange weapons.
Gurmanjot was in contact with MP-based illegal arms smugglers whom he met in Ludhiana jail in 2022. The accused, who were out on bail, went to MP and received the weapons.
“Both Gurmanjot and Kuldeep shook hands and agreed to eliminate their rivals in Ludhiana and Barnala. They wanted to start their own gang and thus needed weapons,” a cop said.
Weapons bought from Sikligars in MP
According to the sources, the accused bought the weapons from the Sikligar community, which according to the police specialises in making weapons.
“The Sikhligar community used to make weapons for the army of Guru Gobind Singh. They are trained in making weapons, which they sell from ₹20,000 to ₹60,000. The accused bought each weapon for ₹40,000 from them”, a senior officer said.
Deputy inspector general of police (DIG, CounterIntelligence) J Elanchezian said more arrests and recoveries are expected in the case. All accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Arms Act and section 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at the SSOC police station in Mohali.
