Chandigarh, March 28 (IANS) In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive, Punjab Police’s Counter-Intelligence (CI) in Amritsar has busted a Pakistan-backed illegal arms smuggling racket with the arrest of two operatives, who were supplying weapons to associates of foreign-based gangsters Lakhbir Landa and Satta Naushera.
Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on Friday said the accused have been identified as Fateh Singh and Gurpreet Singh, both residents of Tarn Taran district. Police teams have also recovered five sophisticated pistols — two .30 bore PX5 pistols and three .30 bore star-marked pistols — from their possession.
The DGP said the team of CI Amritsar’s Tarn Taran wing received a tip-off that accused Fateh Singh and Gurpreet Singh have established relations with Pakistan-based smuggler Amar, who is using drones to deliver the weapons and ammunition consignments from across the border.
The input further revealed that the accused, Fateh and Gurpreet, have recently retrieved a huge consignment of illegal arms and ammunition and are expected to deliver in Amritsar. The DGP said acting swiftly, police teams from the Counter-Intelligence wing of Tarn Taran launched an intelligence-based operation and managed to arrest both of them with five pistols.
DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that Pakistan-based weapon smuggler Amar, along with his associates, was working in connivance with gangsters Lakhbir Singh Landa and Satta Naushera of Tarn Taran and supplying illegal weapons to their Indian associates with the help of drones. It was further revealed that both the arrested accused were constantly in touch with smuggler Amar, he said.
The DGP said that further investigation is being carried out to uncover deeper connections within this network and unveil backward and forward linkages. A case dated March 27 was registered under Sections 25, 25 (1) (A), 25 (7) and 25 (8) of the Arms Act and Section 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the police station of State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), Amritsar.
–IANS
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