E-Paper
Punjab Police arrest 3 inter-state arms smugglers with 23 pistols
Commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the police received a tip-off about illegal weapons being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to supply them to criminal elements in the state,
The Punjab police on Tuesday arrested three inter-state arms smugglers in separate operations in Jalandhar and Amritsar and recovered 23 illegal pistols from their possession.
Two accused were arrested during a special checking at Paragpur on Jalandhar-Ludhiana national highway and 10 illegal .32 bore pistols were recovered from their possession.
The accused have been identified as Dilpreet Singh, 23, of Daduyodh village and Ajitpal Singh, 23, of Karkiyan village in Gurdaspur district.
“They confessed that they used to purchase a pistol for ₹22,000 from Madhya Pradesh and sell it to gangsters in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for ₹70,000-80,000,” commissioner of police Swapan Sharma said.
Police said that the duo had travelled to Madhya Pradesh on December 6 by a bus and came back with the illegal consignment of weapons on Tuesday morning.
“The accused de-boarded the bus near Paragpur and were waiting for another vehicle when the CIA wing of Jalandhar police caught them,” police said.
A case has been registered under various sections of the Arms Act at Jalandhar police station.
In another incident, police arrested a key member of an inter-state arms smuggling racket from Bhaini village in Amritsar.
The accused has been identified as Amritpal Singh alias Kallu, 28, a resident of Bhullar village in Tarn Taran. The police team recovered 13 .32 bore pistols along with 24 magazines and two live rounds, besides impounding his car.
Kallu has been facing at least eight criminal cases pertaining to the NDPS Act and causing hurt in various districts.
Commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the police received a tip-off about illegal weapons being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to supply them to criminal elements in the state,
The police team from CIA-2 comprising DCP, investigation, Harpreet Singh Mander; ADCP City-2 Prabhjot Singh Virk and ACP, west, Kamaljit Singh Aulakh apprehended the accused from Bhaini village during a special operation.
“During questioning, the accused disclosed that he used to buy a pistol from Madhya Pradesh for ₹35,000 and sell it for ₹50,000 in Punjab,” he said, adding that the police teams are putting all efforts to identify the procurement and supply chain to bust the network.
A case has been registered under sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act at Chheharta police station.
