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Punjab Police bust illegal weapon smuggling module
Police claimed it recovered 30 illegal pistols and 32 magazines besides a car and a motorcycle from the three people arrested in this connection
The Punjab Police on Friday claimed to have busted an inter-state illicit arms smuggling module with the arrest of three people from Madhya Pradesh.
The police also said it has recovered 30 illegal pistols and 32 magazines besides a car and a motorcycle from the trio.
The arrested persons were identified as Crore Singh and Ram Singh Patwa, both residents of Pachori village of Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh and Chander Pal of Khakhnaar village of the same district, police said.
The three accused were arrested on April 15 in raids carried out in two villages, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said.
The DGP said Patwa had revealed that the weapons consignment had been supplied to him by a notorious MP-based arms manufacturer and smuggler, Rahul, who had figured earlier also in seizures of arms consignments by Punjab Police within the last six months.
Amritsar senior superintendent of police (SSP, rural) Dhruv Dahiya stated that Rahul and the other MP-based smugglers used various social media platforms, including WhatsApp, to establish a wide network of contacts in Punjab, for illegal supply of locally manufactured weapons.
These suppliers target vulnerable youth, militant elements, gangsters and radical entities lodged in various jails in the state to supply weapons, said SSP Dahiya adding that Rahul’s links had also been established earlier with an accused lodged inside the Amritsar jail in a drone module busted in 2019.
The SSP said that detailed investigations were being conducted to unravel the entire weapons manufacturing, smuggling and supply network, as well as identification of the physical and financial flows associated with the recovered and past consignments into Punjab.
Meanwhile, the arrests and recoveries were made part of the investigation into a December 10, 2020 FIR under sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act at Gharinda police station.
