Busting a cross-border network, the Amritsar police arrested seven individuals, including an Afghan national and a juvenile, and seized 10 sophisticated weapons, 5.048-kg heroin, along with 30.
Busting a cross-border network, the Amritsar police arrested seven individuals, including an Afghan national and a juvenile, and seized 10 sophisticated weapons, 5.048-kg heroin, along with ₹30.38 lakh in hawala money, from their possession, officials said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Jaspreet Singh, alias Kalu (21), of Khurmanian village in Amritsar; Jagjit Singh, alias Jaggi (40), a native of Jalalabad in Afghanistan and presently residing at Tilak Nagar in New Delhi; Gopal Sharma, alias Gaurav (21), of Islamabad in Amritsar; Aniket Sahota (21) of Ram Nagar Colony in Amritsar; Prabhjeet Singh, alias Prabh (26), of Gumtala Colony in Amritsar; and Rajbir Singh, alias Aryan (22), of Maqboolpura in Amritsar. The seventh accused is a juvenile.
Director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said a preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were linked to foreign-based handlers operating through social media platforms. They had been receiving consignments of narcotics and illegal arms for distribution to criminal elements, he said, while adding that the network was using hawala channels for financial transactions across various locations.
Among the seized weapons are a 9 mm Uzi sub-machine gun (made in Italy), one 9 mm Ghaffar security sub-machine gun (9 mm automatic), four 9 mm Glock pistols (made in Austria), one 9 mm Zigana pistol, one Colt King Commander semi-automatic pistol (.30 bore), one Scorpion Zigana Tisas Turkiye pistol (.30 Bore) and one .30-bore pistol. Their bike has also been impounded.
The DGP said further investigation is underway to establish backward and forward linkages to identify additional associates connected with the foreign-based network in this case.
Amritsar police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said police teams, acting on intelligence inputs, arrested Jaspreet and a juvenile with 220-gm heroin. Further investigation led cops to other accused. Bhullar said the Afghan man, Jaggi, has already been facing several cases. More arrests and recoveries are likely, he added.
An FIR has been registered under Sections 21B (illegal manufacturing, possession, sale, purchase and transport of drugs), 21C (punishment), 27A (financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders) and 29 (abetment and criminal conspiracy) of the NDPS Act and Sections 25(6, 7, 8) of the Arms Act at Islamabad police station in Amritsar.