— ARRESTED ACCUSED WERE USING ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS TO EVADE POLICE SURVEILLANCE, DGP GAURAV YADAV
— FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING TO ESTABLISH FORWARD AND BACKWARD LINKAGES
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, October 27:
In a continued effort by the Punjab Police to check the influx of illicit weapons from across the border amidst ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has dismantled an illegal cross-border arms smuggling module with the arrest of three individuals and recovered 10 foreign-made sophisticated .30 bore pistols along with magazines from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Daljit Singh and Gurjant Singh, both residents of village Singhoki in Amritsar; and Arshdeep Singh, a resident of Village Nisoke in Amritsar. Apart from recovering pistols, police teams have also impounded their motorcycle being used for transporting the illegal weapons.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that arrested accused were in contact with a foreign-based handler, who was utilizing encrypted communication platforms to evade police surveillance and facilitating illegal arms consignments. The weapons were further to be supplied to criminal elements through an organised distribution network, he said.
Sharing operational details, he said that CI Amritsar teams had received specific intelligence that suspects Daljit Singh and Arshdeep Singh, accompanied by their accomplice Gurjant Singh, have retrieved a fresh drone-dropped cache of firearms in the Ramdas sector, and were traveling on a black motorcycle toward the Verka Bypass in Amritsar to execute the delivery to another party. Acting swiftly, CI Amritsar teams conducted a raid and intercepted the trio near the Fatehgarh Shukarchak under-bridge on the Verka Bypass and recovered 10 foreign-made .30 bore pistols along with magazines from their possession, he said.
The DGP said that further investigation is ongoing to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.
In this regard, a case FIR No. 70 dated 27-10-2026 under sections 25, 25(1A), 25(1B), 25(7), and 25(8) of the Arms Act, and sections 61(2) and 111 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), Amritsar.
