— ILLEGAL WEAPON CONSIGNMENTS were FURTHER DISTRIBUTED AMONG CRIMINAL ELEMENTS: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING; MORE ARRESTS AND RECOVERIES ARE LIKELY IN COMING DAYS: CP ASR GURPREET BHULLAR
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, May 3:
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 dismantled a cross-border arms smuggling module with the arrest of four accused persons and recovered seven sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
Those arrested have been identified as Samarbir Singh alias Simar (21), a resident of Mahindra Colony in Amritsar; Satnam Singh alias Satta (23), a native of village Fatehpur, Tarn Taran and presently residing at Krishna Nagar in Amritsar; Tanupreet Singh (26), a resident of Pratap Nagar in Amritsar; and Karanjot Singh alias Sajan (26), a resident of Krishna Nagar in Amritsar. The recovered weapons include two 9MM Glock – made in Austria, four .30 bore – made in China and one .30 bore pistol.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused were in contact with Pakistan-based smugglers through social media platforms. The consignments of illegal arms were delivered from across the border through drones and were further distributed among criminal elements through their associates, he said.
The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages of this network to identify other associates involved.
Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that in a well planned operation based on secret information, accused Samarbir alias Simar was arrested with two Glock pistols.
On further interrogation and follow-up action, three of his associates —Satnam alias Satta, Tanupreet Singh and Karanjot alias Sajan— were arrested, he said, while adding that based on their disclosures five more pistols were recovered.
The CP said that accused Satnam alias Satta is already involved in a previous case involving recovery of a commercial quantity of heroin, wherein 8 kg of heroin was recovered from his possession. Satnam Satta and Karanjot alias Sajan reside in the same neighbourhood and were working together on the directions of a Pakistan-based handler, he added.
He said that probe has also revealed that all the arrested accused are well educated and had earlier worked as salesmen in a private firm. All the accused reside in nearby localities and were known to each other, he said.
In this regard, a case FIR no. 70 dated 30-04-2026 under sections 25 (1-A, 6, 7, 8) of the Arms Act has been registered at Police Station Cantonment in Amritsar.
