In a major bust of illicit Pistol manufacturing and supplyracket, the Punjab Police on Friday, busted an inter-state illegal weaponsmuggling module with the arrest of three Madhya Pradesh (MP) based Armssuppliers involved in large scale illegal manufacturing and supply ofweapons from MP into Punjab as well as other States.
Thearrested persons have been identified as Crore Singh and Ram Singh Patwa, bothresidents of village Pachori at Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh whileChander Pal belongs to village Khakhnaar in the same district. The accusedpersons were arrested on April 15, 2021, by the Amritsar Rural Police during the special operation carried out at Burhanpur district of MP.
ThePolice have also recovered 30 illegal Pistols including twenty-five .32 borePistols, five .30 bore Pistols and 32 magazines from the trio besides recoveryof an Alto Car and a Splendor Motorcycle.
DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta said that acting on specificinputs, a Police team from Amritsar Rural led by ASP Majitha Abhimanyu Rana andDSP Detective Gurinder Nagra arrestedCrore Singh and Chander Pal from near the Bus Stand in Burhanpur on 10.4.2021.Ten .32 bore Pistols and 10 magazines were recovered from their possession,while the 3rd accused Ram Singh Patwa was nabbed from near Gurudwara BadiSangat in Burhanpur, along with fifteen .32 bore Pistols, five .30 bore pistolsand 22 magazines.
The DGPsaid that Ram Singh Patwa had revealed that the weapons consignment had beensupplied to him by Rahul, a notorious MP-based weapons manufacturer, andsmuggler, who has figured earlier also in seizures of weapons consignments byPunjab Police within the last 6 months. The DGP thanked DGP MP for the supportprovided by the Madhya Pradesh Police to the Punjab Police in carrying out theabove arrests and huge weapon recoveries. It may be mentioned that DGP Punjabhad personally requested DGP MP to assist in the above operation.
Notably,Rahul was also identified as the key supplier behind the weapons consignment of12 .32 bore Pistols and 15 magazines recovered by Amritsar Rural Police inJanuary 2021. Besides, he had also emerged as the kingpin when Patiala Policehad seized a weapons consignment of six .32 bore Pistols in September 2020.
SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Dhruv Dahiya, stated that the investigation has revealed that Rahul and other MP based weapon smugglers usevarious social media platforms, including WhatsApp, to establish a wide networkof contacts in Punjab, for illegal supply of locally manufactured weapons.
Theseweapons suppliers target vulnerable youth, militant elements, gangsters andradical entities lodged in various Jails in the state to supply weapons saidthe SSP Dahiya adding that Rahul’s links had also been established earlier withan accused lodged inside the Amritsar Jail, in a drone module busted by PunjabPolice in 2019.
The SSPsaid that detailed investigations were being conducted to unravel the entireweapons manufacturing, smuggling, and supply network, as well as identificationof the physical and financial flows associated with the recovered and pastconsignments into Punjab.
Meanwhile, the arrests and recoveries weremade as part of the investigation into FIR no. 199 dated December 10, 2020under sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act at Police Station Gharinda, AmritsarRural.