Inter-state arms smuggling gang busted, 3 arrested with 11 pistols

Amritsar, October 22

The police have busted an inter-state arms smuggling gang with the arrest of its three members from Fatehgarh Churian in Batala.

Police teams have also seized 11 pistols — six .32 bore and five .30 bore pistols — along with magazines and 15 cartridges, Rs 2 lakh cash and one motorcycle bearing registration number PB18P 5023.

Those arrested have been identified as Anmol Singh of village Thetharke, Karandeep Masih of village Gurchak and Jagroop Singh of Shahpur Jajan, in Batala.

During questioning, the accused have disclosed that they were receiving money through ‘hawala’ from their USA-based accomplices to buy arms and ammunition from Madhya Pradesh.

Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said acting swiftly on a secret information about illegal weapons being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to the state, the police teams from the Amritsar counter-intelligence wing launched a special operation and apprehended three persons from Fatehgarh Churian when they were travelling on their motorcycle.

“Our teams have been putting all efforts to unearth the whole network and identify the procurement and supply chain”, he said while revealing that their USA-based accomplices had been identified as Kirandeep Singh Randhawa of village Gurchak in Batala and Jarmanjit Singh of Naurangabad in Tarn Taran.

Preliminary investigations have also revealed that the gang was hatching a conspiracy to target their rival gang members.

An FIR has been registered under Section 25 of the Arms Act, Sections 109, 115, 120 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3 and 4 of the Money Laundering Act in Amritsar.