— RECOVERED ARMS WERE INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION AMONG CRIMINAL ELEMENTS: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— FURTHER INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING; MORE ARRESTS AND RECOVERIES ARE LIKELY: CP ASR GURPREET BHULLAR
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, June 18:
In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of eight accused persons and recovered 11 sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.
Those arrested have been identified as Gulabjit Singh alias Prince (21) and Harpreet Singh alias Preet (23), both residents of village Attari in Amritsar; Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi (24), a resident of village Hardowal in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur; Kuljit Singh (39) and Shamsher Singh alias Shera (40), both residents of village Ranian in Amritsar; Aman Rana alias Chini (20), a resident of Chheharta in Amritsar; Sharanjit Singh alias Sunny (29), a resident of village Kiralgarh in Amritsar; and Ajay Singh (23), a resident of village Malia in Tarn Taran.
The recovered weapons include four .30 bore (made in China), four .30 bore PX5 Storm, one .30 bore Zigana, one 9MM Glock (made in Austria) and one 9MM (made in Austria) along with eight live cartridges. Apart from this, police teams have also impounded their motorcycle.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were allegedly in contact with foreign-based operatives involved in the supply of illegal weapons. The recovered arms were intended for distribution among criminal elements and for use in extortion, violent crimes, and other unlawful activities, he said.
The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish backward and forward linkages in this case to identify other associates connected with the network, and ascertain further recoveries and arrests.
Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting on secret information and carrying out a planned intelligence-based operation, police teams have arrested accused Gulabjit alias Prince and Harpreet alias Preet and recovered two pistols from their possession.
On the basis of further investigation, police teams arrested another accused Gurpreet alias Gopi and recovered four pistols from his possession, he said, while addin that on the disclosure statement of accused Gurpreet alias Gopi, police teams arrested his two associates Kuljit Singh and Shamsher alias Shera resulting in recovery of two additional pistols from their possession.
The CP said that during interrogation, accused Gurpreet alias Gopi disclosed that he was in contact with foreign-based gangster through social media applications and the latter was arranging illegal consignments of weapons through drones at different locations in the Attari sector.
During the course of further investigation, police teams arrested two more accused Aman Rana alias Chini and Sharanjit alias Sunny and recovered two more pistols from their possession, he said, while adding that acting on the disclosure statements of the arrested accused, police teams subsequently arrested accused Ajay Singh and recovered one pistol from his possession.
CP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that investigation has further revealed that accused Harpreet alias Preet, Gurpreet alias Gopi, Sharanjit alias Sunny and Ajay Singh are also involved in previous cases pertaining to Murder, Attempt to Murder, Arms Act, NDPS Act and theft cases. Further investigation is ongoing, he added.
In this regard, three separate cases— FIR No. 14 dated 01-06-2026 under section 25(8) of the Arms Act at Police Station Airport, FIR No. 122 dated 10-06-2026 under section 25(8) of the Arms Act at Police Station Sadar and FIR No. 133 dated 16-06-2026 under section 25(8) of the Arms Act at Police Station Chheharta in Amritsar— have been registered.
