Punjab Police arrest 3 more members of drone-based arms smuggling module

Chandigarh, Oct 8 (IANS) Punjab Police have arrested three more members of the drone-based arms and ammunition smuggling module and recovered a fresh cache of sophisticated arms and ammo from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.

A total of five members of this module have been arrested so far.

Those arrested have been identified as Surinder Singh of village Barwala in Tarn Taran, Harchand Singh and Gursahib Singh, both residents of Valtoha in Amritsar. The Police have recovered Rs 1.01 crore cash, 500 grams heroin, 17 pistols along with 400 cartridges, one MP-4 rifle along with 300 cartridges, two weighing machines and two currency counting machines from their possession.

Earlier on Wednesday, a police team from Counter Intelligence Amritsar had arrested two members of this module, including a prisoner identified as Jaskaran Singh and his aide Rattanbir Singh, after recovering 10 foreign-made pistols from locations pinpointed by them, taking total recovery of pistols to 27.

Divulging details, DGP Yadav said that during investigations, it came out from Jaskaran Singh and Rattanbir Singh that their associate Surinder had picked up the consignment of arms and ammunition that was previously smuggled by them with the help of drones from Pakistan.

Following inputs, the police managed to arrest Surinder on Friday and recovered 10 pistols along with six magazines and 100 live cartridges from his possession, he added.

He said investigations revealed that Surinder, on the directions of Jaskaran Singh, used to pick consignments from Rattanbir to further deliver them to two brothers - Harchand and Gursahib. The police have also arrested them.

The DGP said that further investigations are on to determine other consignments from Pakistan, which may have been retrieved by this module for further delivery to unidentified persons for commission of anti-national activities.

AIG Counter Intelligence Amritsar Amarjit Singh Bajwa said: "During investigations, accused Jaskaran confessed that he is in contact with a Pakistan-based smuggler identified as Asif, who used to deliver consignment of narcotics and arms and ammunition from Pakistan using drone and Rattanbir used to retrieve them on his directions.