Chandigarh, March 6 (IANS) Punjab Police have busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of six individuals, including one juvenile, and recovered five sophisticated pistols and a sharp-edged weapon from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.

Those arrested in Amritsar have been identified as Rohit Kumar (18), Karanbir Singh, alias Ajay, (24), Jashandeep Singh, alias Giani, (18), Onkar Singh, alias Vansh, (21) and Akashdeep Singh (24), and 16-year-old juvenile.

The recovered weapons include one .30 Bore, one 9MM Glock, one .30 bore PX5, one 9MM Taurus and one 9MM Gretta (made in Pakistan) along with 34 cartridges, officials said.

Punjab DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were in contact with Pakistan-based arms smugglers through social media and receiving weapon consignments from across the borders via drones.

The accused were coordinating arms consignments on the directions of their handlers and distributing them across different areas, the DGP said.

DGP Yadav said that further investigation is underway to establish linkages to dismantle the network. Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (Amritsar) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting swiftly during patrolling and checking of suspicious people, police teams apprehended Rohit Kumar along with one juvenile and recovered one .30 bore pistol and a sharp-edged weapon from their possession.

During questioning, the accused disclosed that the illegal weapon had been supplied to them by Karanbir, he said, adding acting on this information police teams arrested him.

He said further investigation and interrogation of Karanbir led to the arrest of weapon suppliers identified as Onkar Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Jashandeep and resulted in recovery of four more pistols. In this regard, a case has been registered under Sections 25 (6, 7 and 8) of the Arms Act at Police Station in Maqboolpura in Amritsar.

–IANS

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