CHANDIGARH, March 31 (Prashant Sharma): In a major breakthrough, Punjab Police have busted an Interstate Illegal Arms Smuggling Racket with the arrest of its four members after recovering nine .32 bore country-made pistols along with eight live cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
Arrested Individuals Identified by Location
Gurmanjot Singh from Chakkar in Ludhiana, Kuldeep Singh alias Manak from village Lehra in Ludhiana, Sukhchain Singh from village Moom in Barnala, and Sandeep Singh from village Bhaini Gujran in Ludhiana have been identified as those arrested.
Pertinently, both the accused Kuldeep Singh alias Manak and Gurmanjot Singh, who became known to each other while at Ludhiana jail in the year 2016, have a criminal background with many cases pertaining to attempt to murder, Arms act, Snatching, theft etc registered against them and they were out on bail at present. Accused Gurmanjot was in contact with Madhya Pradesh based illegal arms smugglers after he met them at Ludhiana Jail in year 2022.
DGP: Police Nab Arms Smugglers with Nine Pistols
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following reliable inputs about the movement of arms smugglers possessing consignment of illegal arms and ammunition brought by them from Sendhwan in district Barwani of Madhya Pradesh with the intention to carry out criminal activity in the state, Police teams from State Special Operating Cell (SSOC) SAS Nagar laid a Naka at Patran- Khanauri road in Patiala.
“Police teams have apprehended all the accused persons, who were travelling in their white Swift car (PB 10 GG 9014), and recovered nine pistols, bearing distinctive ‘Star’ mark from their possession,” he said, while adding that Police have also impounded their car.
DGP Gaurav Yadav revealed that preliminary inquiry showed that the arrested accused persons intended to use some of the weapons to execute targeted organized crime, while they planned to distribute the remaining weapons to members of other gangs.Additionally, he declared that all the accused persons actively supplied weapons to criminal gangs in Punjab as well as neighboring states.
DIG Counter Intelligence J Elanchezian said that further investigations are on to trace the forward and backward linkages of this module, and identify the MP-based arm smugglers. He added that they expect more arrests and recoveries. The Police Station SSOC in SAS Nagar has registered a case, FIR no. 9 dated 30.03.2024, under sections 25 and 25(7) of the Arms Act and section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
