Amritsar , 10 November (H.S.): Amritsar Commissionerate Police has dismantled two separate illegal arms supply networks with the arrest of six individuals and recovered 14 sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Bobby Singh and Ravinder Singh alias Manna, both residents of Village Talwandi Shoba Singh in Tarn Taran; Gurpreet Singh alias Preet, a native of village Khohala and currently residing at Max City Jandpeer Colony in Amritsar; Kamal, a resident of Sandhu Colony in Amritsar; Ajay Singh alias Kaka, a resident of Essma Estate in. Amritsar; and Swaran Singh, a resident of Sector 17 in Panchkula, Haryana.

The recovered pistols include one .30 bore TISAS Zigana, one .30 bore Zigana Eagle, one .30 bore (Made in China), two 9mm pistols, seven .30 bore pistols, and two .32 bore pistols.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were allegedly in contact with foreign-based handlers through social media platforms, who facilitated the supply of illegal weapons through drone-based consignments. The accused allegedly collected these consignments and further supplied the weapons to individuals involved in criminal activities, he said.

The DGP said that further investigation is underway to identify other associates to establish the complete backward and forward linkages in this case to dismantle the wider illegal arms supply networks.

Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Harmanbir Singh Gill said that in the first operation, police teams acting on reliable inputs arrested five accused-Bobby Singh, Ravinder alias Manna, Gurpreet alias Preet, Kamal, and Ajay alias Kaka-and recovered six illegal pistols from their possession.

The CP said that in the second operation, police acted on specific information and apprehended Swaran Singh, recovering eight illegal pistols from his possession. In this regard, two separate cases have been registered.

Hindusthan Samachar / GURSHARAN SINGH