Amritsar, 23 August (H.S.): Counter Intelligence Amritsar has busted an illegal arms smuggling network with the arrest of two individuals and recovered 10 sophisticated pistols along with magazines and 10 live cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.

Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh both residents of village Hawellian in Tarn Taran. The recovered weapons include nine 9MM pistols and one .30 bore pistol. Apart from recovering weapons, police teams have also impounded their grey colored motorcycle Bajaj Platina (PB-38-C-1658), being used for transporting the consignments.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were allegedly in contact with a foreign-based handler and receiving illegal arms consignments from across the border for further supply to other parties in Punjab.

Sharing operational details, he said that police teams from CI Amritsar has received a reliable input that two suspects— both identified as Gurpreet Singh received huge consignments of weapons through drone in the area of village Hawellian situated near Indo-Pak border fencing, on the instructions of their foreign based handler and they are expected to deliver the consignment of arms and ammunition to some other party. Acting swiftly, police teams apprehended both the accused from the area near village Khasa on the Amritsar Attari GT road, and 10 sophisticated pistols along with magazines and live cartridges were recovered from their possession, he said.

The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish the complete forward and backward linkages in this case to identify other accomplices, and uncover the wider cross-border smuggling network. In this regard, a case has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.

Hindusthan Samachar / GURSHARAN SINGH