*— ACCUSED PERSONS WERE USING ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS TO EVADE POLICE DETECTION: DGP GAURAV YADAV*
*— FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING TO ESTABLISH FORWARD AND BACKWARD LINKAGES IN THIS CASE*
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, October 15:
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, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a cross-border arms and explosives smuggling module with the arrest of five individuals, including a father and son duo, and recovered one .30 bore assault rifle, two hand grenades and 13 foreign-made sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh and his son Jaskaran Singh, both residents of Village Ballarwal in Ajnala, Amritsar; Veenu, a resident of Sagarpur in Batala; Amritpal Singh, a resident of village Rasulpur in Batala; and Gaurav Masih, a resident of village Gounspura in Batala.
The recovered pistols include four 9MM Glocks and nine .30 bore pistols along with 25 live cartridges. Apart from recovering arms and explosives, police teams have also impounded their two motorcycles— Honda Livo and Hero Splendor— being used in the logistics movement of the consignments.
Sharing operational details, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that CI Amritsar received specific intelligence that father-son duo Gurpreet Singh and Jaskaran Singh, were in constant contact with a foreign-based smuggler and have been retrieving drone-dropped consignments of arms, ammunition, and explosives from across the border on his instructions to supply them further through operatives identified as Veenu, Amritpal Singh, and Gaurav Masih.
The input specifically revealed that Gurpreet and Jaskaran are supposed to meet their associates Veenu, Amritpal, and Gaurav near village Teri in Ajnala, to deliver the arms and explosives consignment, he said, while adding that acting swiftly on the input, CI Amritsar teams raided the designated location and apprehended all five accused on the spot along with the arms and explosives consignment.
The DGP said that preliminary investigation has indicated the foreign-based smuggler was using encrypted communication platforms to coordinate movements and evade police detection. Further investigation is underway to trace the smuggling network, establish its backward and forward linkages, and identify all those involved, he added.
In this regard, a case FIR No. 66 dated 15-10-2026 under sections 25 and 25(1)-A of the Arms Act, sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, and section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), Amritsar.
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