Sangrur The Lehra police have busted an inter-state gang and arrested five men with two illegal firearms, allegedly smuggled from Madhya Pradesh, senior police officials said on Monday. The police said the accused were nabbed from near a drain adjoining Alampur village and a Maruti Zen and a Hyundai Verna was recovered from them, following a tip-off on Sunday. Sangrur SSP Swapan Sharma said two of the five arrested were already facing cases of heinous crime. He added that they had arrested 16 such persons, with 11 weapons over the past three months.
The accused are Kuldeep Singh of Moonak, Buta Singh, Amritpal and Nikka, all from Mansa, and Ashok Kumar from Nirwana in Haryana. They are all between 28-30.
The SSP said that Kuldeep has 10 FIRs registered against him at different police stations in Sangrur and Jind (Haryana) for his involvement in theft, dacoity and under the Excise Act. “They have formed a gang. They also smuggle liquor from border areas of Punjab and Haryana, surrounding Sangrur and Mansa,” the SSP said. The police said preliminary investigations revealed that they were not only in touch with the illegal weapon manufacturers in MP, but also with other highway robbers and gangsters in Punjab and even outside the country.
Lehra police station chief Vijay Kumar said they had been following the accused for days. Kumar said the police recovered a .32 bore pistol and a .315-bore katta with cartridges from them. A case has been registered under Sections 399 (making preparation to commit dacoity), 402 (assembling for the purpose of committing dacoity) of the IPC and 25 of the Arms Act at Lehra police station.