Two more inter-state arms smugglers land in Mohali police net

As per Mohali police, the accused were identified as Lovepreet Singh, 30, alias Love, and Jaswant Singh, 35, both residents of Lehra village in Ludhiana; they were arrested on Sunday

The special state operation cell (SSOC) arrested two more members of an inter-state arms smuggling gang that was busted after the arrest of four members of the gang recently.

Both the accused were nabbed from their village in Ludhiana following the disclosure of the four accused arrested previously on Saturday. (Getty image)

The accused were identified as Lovepreet Singh, 30, alias Love, and Jaswant Singh, 35, both residents of Lehra village in Ludhiana. They were arrested on Sunday.

According to cops familiar with the case, both the accused were nabbed from their village following the disclosure of the four accused arrested previously on Saturday.

Earlier, the SSOC had arrested four members of the gang, identified as Gurmanjot Singh of Chakkar, Kuldeep Singh, alias Manak, of Lehra village; Sandeep Singh of Bhaini Gujran village, all in Ludhiana; and Sukhchain Singh of Moom village in Barnala district.

The team had recovered nine .32 bore country-made pistols, bearing distinctive “star” marks, and eight live cartridges from them. Police had also impounded the car used in the crime.

Cops familiar with the probe said Gurmanjot and Kuldeep, who were the alleged key conspirators in the racket, along with Lovepreet and Jaswant, collectively paid ₹3.31 lakh to Madhya Pradesh (MP)-based smugglers for illegal arms and ammunition. The probe revealed that both Lovepreet and Jaswant bought one weapon each for themselves. Lovepreet was earlier booked in two criminal cases. Earlier on Saturday, the accused who were returning to Punjab from MP, after collecting the weapons, in a white Swift Dzire car, were nabbed by the SSOC team led by SI Harminder Singh and 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 activities 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.

All accused were booked under relevant Sections of the Arms Act and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code at the SSOC police station in Mohali.