Chandigarh: Amritsar Commissionerate Police have dismantled an illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of three operatives and recovered seven sophisticated pistols from their possession, Punjab’s Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Tuesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Resham Singh, alias Ghulla, 30, a resident of Daleri village in Tarn Taran, Sumit, alias Sachin, 28, a resident of Gumanpura in Amritsar, and Vishal Kumar, 22, a resident of Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran.

Cache of Foreign-Made Weapons Recovered

The recovered pistols include three 9 mm Glock Pistols, a 9 mm Beretta made in Italy, a 9 mm Zigana made in Turkey, a 9 mm PX5 Glock made in Turkey and a .30 bore pistol.

DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused were directly in contact with Pakistan-based smugglers through social media platforms, who used to send consignments of illegal arms via drones.

As per directions of their handlers, the accused further delivered these illegal weapons to intended recipients, he said, adding that further investigation is ongoing to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.

Operation Based on Specific Intelligence

Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said, acting on specific and reliable secret information, police teams carried out a well-planned operation during which accused Resham Singh was apprehended, and the two 9mm Glock pistols were recovered from his possession, while three more pistols were recovered from a spot pinpointed by him in his disclosure statement, he said.

Bhullar said that during further interrogation, Resham Singh revealed his accomplice, identified as Sumit, who was also arrested during the operation and two pistols were recovered from his possession.

Cross-Border Link and Distribution Network Under Probe

On further investigation, the accused Vishal Kumar was also arrested in the late evening, he said. He said the accused had a common handler on whose directions, Resham Singh used to pick up the consignments from near the border, while Sumit was delivering them further in the disguise of his car sale and purchase business.