3 smugglers held; eight pistols, magazines, ammo recovered

The Amritsar (Rural) police have busted interstate organised crime and weapon smuggling module and confiscated eight country-made pistols in two separate operations after arresting three smugglers in this connection. They used to procure weapons from Madhya Pradesh through different channels and sell these to unscrupulous elements active in the border belt.

Those arrested were identified as Charanjit Singh, alias Channi, a resident of Neshta village in Gharinda, and Gurtej Singh, a resident of Navi Abadi in Attari. The police seized five pistols of .32 calibre, besides 15 live cartridges and a bike from their possession.

“Some of the weapons were brought from Madhya Pradesh. We have the evidence that suggests that the two arms smugglers also have links with Pakistan-based smugglers,” said Charanjit Singh, SSP, Amritsar (Rural).

In the second incident, the police have arrested Bikramjit Singh, alias Biki, a resident of Gaddua village in Sangrur district from the Chatiwind area. The police recovered three pistols along with magazines and two live bullets from him.

The SSP said two separate FIRs under the Arms Act were registered at the Gharinda and the Chatiwind police stations against smugglers while further investigations were in progress. They were produced in a court and brought on police remand for further interrogation, he said.

“We are working to uncover forward and backward links of smugglers to bust the entire arms smuggling network,” the SSP said.