— ARRESTED ACCUSED WAS IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH PAK-BASED HANDLERS, WHO WERE USING DRONES TO PUSH ARMS-AMMUNITION FROM ACROSS BORDER: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— ENTIRE NETWORK OF ARMS TRAFFICKING CARTEL WILL BE TRACED: SSP ABHIMANYU RANA
CHANDIGARH/TARN TARAN, June 5:
In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing war against drugs and crime waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Tarn Taran Police has dismantled a cross-border weapon smuggling module with links to Pakistan and arrested its two operatives after recovering six highly sophisticated Pistols— four 9MM Glock 26 and two .30 bore PX5— along with live cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.
The arrested accused have been identified as Surajpal Singh and Arshdeep Singh, both residents of village Lakhna in Tarn Taran. Apart from recovering arms and ammunition, police teams have also impounded their Hero Splendor motorcycle, which they were using for delivery of weapon consignments.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that accused Surajpal Singh was in direct contact with Pakistan-based handlers identified as Rana and Sikander, who were using drones to drop consignments of arms-ammunition.
Further investigations are going on to establish backward and forward linkages in this case, he said, while adding that more arrests and recoveries are likely in coming days.
Sharing operation details, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tarn Taran Abhimanyu Rana said that acting on reliable information, a police team of CIA Staff under the supervision of SP city Riputapan singh sandhu and DSP (D) Gurinderpal Singh Nagra conducted a targeted operation and apprehended suspects Surajpal Singh and Arshdeep Singh from near village Lakhna in Tarn Taran.
He said that further probe has revealed that after retrieving the weapon consignments, accused Surajpal used to supply it to different criminal modules.
The SSP said that efforts are being made to uncover the entire network of this nexus to ascertain the total number of arms-ammunition received by the arrested accused so far.
A case under FIR No. 59 dated June 4, 2025 has been registered under sections 25 (6) (7)-(i) of the Arms Act at Valtoha Police Station in Tarn Taran.
