Chandigarh, July 8 (IANS) Punjab Police’s Counter Intelligence (CI), Amritsar, has busted an illegal arms and explosives smuggling module with the arrest of three alleged Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives and the recovery of six hand grenades and 12 sophisticated pistols from their possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Wednesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Chintu, Jobanpreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, all residents of Kakkar village in Amritsar.

The recovered weapons include eight .30 bore pistols and four 9 mm pistols, along with nine cartridges. Police have also impounded the car allegedly used to transport the consignments.

DGP Yadav said the preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were operating on the directions of a foreign-based smuggler backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and foreign-based Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives.

The arrested accused were allegedly planning to carry out activities intended to disturb public peace across various cities in the border state, the DGP said.

Sharing operational details, he said police teams from CI Amritsar had received reliable inputs that the suspects — Chintu, Jobanpreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh — had recently received a huge consignment of explosives, arms and ammunition from the Ajnala area on the instructions of their handlers and were expected to deliver it to other associates near the underpass on the Bharatmala bypass highway in Amritsar.

Acting swiftly, police teams laid a checkpoint in Amritsar and intercepted the car in which all three accused were travelling. During the search, six hand grenades and 12 pistols were recovered from their possession.

The DGP said the case is being investigated from multiple angles to establish linkages and uncover the entire network.

A case under Section 25 of the Arms Act, Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at the State Special Operation Cell police station in Amritsar.

–IANS

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