Punjab Police smash cross-border arms smuggling ring in Amritsar; two arrested

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India] June 6 (ANI): Punjab Police Counter-Intelligence (CI) unit in Amritsar has successfully identified and dismantled a cross-border illegal arms smuggling network with connections to Pakistan.
As a result of this operation, two operatives involved in the smuggling activities have been arrested, Punjab Director General of Police, Gaurav Yadav, said on Friday.
According to a release, those arrested are Sukhchain Singh, a resident of Daoke in Amritsar, and Jugraj Singh, a resident of Bhakna Kalan in Amritsar. The police teams also recovered eight sophisticated pistols--three 9MM Glocks, four Px5s, and one .30-bore pistol--from their possession and impounded their black motorcycle, which was used for transporting the consignments.
The DGP said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused were acting under the directions of a Pakistan-based smuggler identified as Noor, a resident of Manihala in Pakistan, who has been using drones to drop weapon consignments from across the border. The arrested accused were further distributing the arms to gangsters across Punjab, intending to fuel criminal activities in the state, he said.
Sharing operation details, the DGP said that CI Amritsar received specific intelligence about the retrieval of a weapon consignment from the village of Bhaini Rajputtan in the jurisdiction of Gharinda in Amritsar.
Acting swiftly, police teams intercepted the duo on Amritsar-Attari GT Road near Khasa in Amritsar when they were going to deliver the consignment on their motorcycle and recovered weapons from their possession, he said. He added that further investigations are underway to uncover the network's backwards and forward linkages.
A FIR was registered on June 5 at Police Station SSOC, Amritsar, under sections 25, 25(1)(A), 25(1)(B) of the Arms Act and section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). (ANI)