The seizure of 30 pistols and 32 magazines with the arrest of three Madhya Pradesh-based men, Crore Singh, Ram Singh Patwa and Chander Pal, from their home towns on Friday is not an isolated incident, say police. In 2021, there have been a slew of cases where the central state of Madhya Pradesh has figured prominently in smuggling of weapons to criminals in Punjab.
“Apart from seizing 42 pistols in two operations, we have seized 30 pistols from criminals since January. After arrest, these men have told us that they had brought the weapons from MP. The state has become one of the hot spots of weapon smuggling for Punjab criminals,” said senior superintendent of police (SSP-rural) Dhruv Dahiya, adding that they now wanted to break the networking chain.
It started in January when the Amritsar Rural police arrested two persons, Mahesh Selotia and Jaggu, and recovered 12 pistols of .32 bore from them. Rahul of Pachori village of Burhanpur district in MP is the kingpin of smuggling weapons into Punjab. Patiala Police have also registered a case against him for involvement in a case where six pistols were seized.
“Our teams are working to identify Punjab-based criminals who have been in touch with MP-based smugglers for supply of weapons,” SSP Dahiya added.
{{/usCountry}}“Our teams are working to identify Punjab-based criminals who have been in touch with MP-based smugglers for supply of weapons,” SSP Dahiya added.
{{/usCountry}}Another senior police official, part of the investigation team, said, “The main hub of the weapons’ production and supply is Dhar, Khagar and Burhanpur districts in Madhya Pradesh. Some members of the Siklighar community in remote areas of these districts are actively involved. They charge between ₹15,000 and ₹20,000 per pistol from Punjab criminals. These pistols look like professional ones, are lethal and carefully designed. Many criminals arrested recently have told us that they preferred weapons from MP, as they were designed like foreign pistols.”
He said, “We have found that some miscreants and gangsters lodged in Punjab jails are in touch with the key MP-based accused, Rahul. Some of these men may be arrested. After 12 pistols were seized in MP in January, the name of Akashdeep, the main accused in the drone-module case lodged in Amritsar jail, had surfaced. Akashdeep had been in contact with Rahul. Patiala Police took him into custody, when six pistols were seized.”
Akashdeep is suspected to be a operative of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terror module that was busted in September 2019.
A Tarn Taran police official said over the past two months they had arrested over a dozen criminals, who have confessed to smuggling of weapons from MP. On Friday, police had said that MP-based smugglers use social media to establish their network in Punjab.