Police on high alert in border areas as festive season begins

Punjab Police have been on a high alert in view of the ongoing festival season to keep miscreants from playing a spoilsport. In the recent past the police have confiscated a huge quantity of illegal firearms, smuggled into the country not only from Pakistan but also from different parts of the country, including Madhya Pradesh.

During October, the city as well as Amritsar rural police confiscated around 15 weapons which had been smuggled from Pakistan and Madhya Pradesh, while the state special operations cell also arrested three cross-border smugglers with three weapons, smuggled by Pakistan-based entities.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Police Commissioner, city police commissionerate, said the police had adopted a zero tolerance policy towards criminal elements in the city. “We have been on an alert and nobody shall be allowed to deteriorate the law and order situation in the city,” he said, adding that they had recovered seven pistols from 12 inter-state arms smugglers this month.

Amritsar rural police also seized eight weapons recently from a few inter-state arms smugglers. The Amritsar rural belts share its borders with Pakistan because of which the smuggling of weapons from the other side is rampant. Though the Border Security Force (BSF) have managed to make a significant number of seizure of drones, besides contraband and arms, officials in the Punjab Police believe that a considerable number of consignments made it into the hands of the cross-border traffickers.

Charanjit Singh, SSP, Amritsar Rural, said a number of operations were already underway to nab notorious elements. He said foreign-based gangsters and terrorists like Lakhbir Singh Landa, Happy Pashia and Hariwinder Singh Rinda were always in the search for an opportunity to create a law and order problem with the help of their accomplices here. “Amritsar being a sensitive border belt, we are on alert all the time,” said the SSP.