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Punjab: Five held with grenades, 13 pistols in Amritsar
An FIR under Sections 25 and 25(1)-A of the Arms Act, Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)
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The counter-intelligence wing, Amritsar, busted a cross-border arms and explosives smuggling module with the arrest of five individuals, including a father and son duo, and recovered one .30-bore assault rifle, two hand grenades and 13 foreign-made sophisticated pistols, director general of police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday.
Those arrested were identified as Gurpreet Singh and his son Jaskaran Singh, both residents of Ballarwal village in Ajnala, Amritsar; Veenu, a resident of Sagarpur in Batala; Amritpal Singh, a resident of Rasulpur village in Batala; and Gaurav Masih, a resident of Gounspura village in Batala.
The recovered pistols include four 9MM Glocks and nine .30-bore pistols along with 25 live cartridges. Apart from recovering arms and explosives, police teams have also impounded two motorcycles allegedly used to transport the consignments.
Sharing details, DGP Yadav said the CI wing had received specific intelligence that Gurpreet and Jaskaran were in constant contact with a foreign-based smuggler and had been retrieving drone-dropped consignments of arms, ammunition, and explosives from across the border on his instructions. The consignments were then supplied and distributed through operatives identified as Veenu, Amritpal Singh, and Gaurav Masih.
“The tip-off specifically revealed that Gurpreet and Jaskaran were supposed to meet their associates Veenu, Amritpal, and Gaurav near Teri village in Ajnala to deliver the arms and explosives,” he said, adding that, acting swiftly on the input, police teams raided the designated location and apprehended all five accused on the spot, along with the arms and explosives consignment.
The DGP said a preliminary investigation indicated that the foreign-based smuggler was using encrypted communication platforms to coordinate movements and evade police detection. Further investigation is underway to trace the smuggling network, establish its backward and forward linkages, and identify all those involved, the DGP added.
An FIR under Sections 25 and 25(1)-A of the Arms Act, Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) police station in Amritsar.
