Amritsar, 29 September (H.S.): Amritsar Rural Police has dismantled an illegal arms and narcotics supply network with the arrest of three persons—including woman, her husband and her brother, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

Police teams have recovered 10.030 kg of heroin, two sophisticated assault rifles including one AK-47 and one AK-56 along with three magazines and 10 live cartridges from their possession.

Those arrested have been identified as Sandeep Singh (32) and his wife Kamaljit Kaur (31), both residents of Village Brar in Amritsar Rural; and Kamaljit’s brother Bikramjit Singh (23), a resident of Village Gumanpura in Amritsar Rural. Accused Sandeep Singh is a history-sheeter with four criminal cases pertaining to Arms Act, NDPS act, etc, registered against him.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has reveals that the arrested accused were allegedly linked to foreign-based smugglers and were procuring illegal weapons and narcotics for further supply in the state. Further investigation is underway to uncover the complete backward and forward linkages in this case to identify other persons involved in the network, he said.

Sharing operational details, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Border Range Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting swiftly on specific intelligence, police teams from Police Station Gharinda conducted a targeted operation and apprehended the trio along with the contraband and assault weapons.

IGP Gurpreet Bhullar revealed that preliminary investigation uncovered a unique modus operandi wherein the accused had taken approximately one acre of land on lease for a guava orchard at Village Modhe, situated merely 500 meters from the India-Pakistan border fence. The accused were allegedly utilizing this border-adjacent orchard as a landing and retrieval site for drug and weapons consignments dropped via drones from across the border, he said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Kanwalpreet Singh Chahal said that while accused Sandeep and his wife Kamaljit Kaur were jointly managing the cross-border smuggling operations, her brother Bikramjit Singh assisted as a courier in retrieving, transporting, and delivering the consignments. In this regard, a case FIR has been registered at Police Station Gharinda in Amritsar Rural.

Hindusthan Samachar / GURSHARAN SINGH