Major action by Punjab Police
State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) Amritsar has busted an inter-state arms smuggling module during the ongoing drive to make Punjab a secure state on the guidelines of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. Two associates of foreign-born terrorist Lakhbir alias Landa have been arrested in this operation and six sophisticated .32 bore pistols along with magazines and ammunition have been recovered from their possession.
Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the arrested have been identified as Sumitpal Singh of Thathian village in Tarn Taran and Arpandeep Singh of Chamba Kalan in Tarn Taran. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that SSOC Amritsar police teams launched an operation and arrested the two accused near the Amritsar railway station after receiving information that the associates of Lawrence Bishnoi had received a cache of arms from Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Accused earlier M.P
He said that preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were in direct contact with illegal arms dealers based in MP. He further stated that about 15 days ago the accused had gone to MP by bus to collect arms and returned to Amritsar by train.
The DGP said that this is the second consignment purchased by the arrested accused from an MP-based arms dealer in the last two months, which has been identified by the police. Investigations are on to arrest the rest of the accused and trace their subsequent links to stop the ongoing illegal arms smuggling from Madhya Pradesh.
The accused confessed
Sharing other details, AIG SSOC Amritsar Sukhminder Singh Mann said that the arrested accused have disclosed that they bought these consignments of arms for further sale to criminal elements to carry out criminal activities. He said that the accused have also confessed to selling two .32 bore pistols to two unknown people in Harike area a month ago.
In this connection, FIR No. 42 dated 14.07.2024 has been registered in Police Station SSOC Amritsar under Section 25 of the Arms Act and Section 61 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (BNS).
