In a major bust of illicit Pistol manufacturing and supply
racket, the Punjab Police on Friday, busted an inter-state illegal weapon
smuggling module with the arrest of three Madhya Pradesh (MP) based Arms
suppliers involved in large scale illegal manufacturing and supply of
weapons from MP into Punjab as well as other States.
The arrested persons have been identified as Crore Singh and Ram Singh Patwa, both residents of village Pachori at Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh while Chander Pal belongs to village Khakhnaar in the same district. The accused persons were arrested on April 15, 2021, by the Amritsar Rural Police during the special operation carried out at Burhanpur district of MP.
The Police have also recovered 30 illegal Pistols including twenty-five .32 bore Pistols, five .30 bore Pistols and 32 magazines from the trio besides recovery of an Alto Car and a Splendor Motorcycle.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta said that acting on specific inputs, a Police team from Amritsar Rural led by ASP Majitha Abhimanyu Rana and DSP Detective Gurinder Nagra arrested Crore 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 Badi Sangat in Burhanpur, along with fifteen .32 bore Pistols, five .30 bore pistols and 22 magazines.
The DGP said that Ram Singh Patwa had revealed that the weapons consignment had been supplied to him by Rahul, a notorious MP-based weapons manufacturer, and smuggler, who has figured earlier also in seizures of weapons consignments by Punjab Police within the last 6 months. The DGP thanked DGP MP for the support provided by the Madhya Pradesh Police to the Punjab Police in carrying out the above arrests and huge weapon recoveries. It may be mentioned that DGP Punjab had personally requested DGP MP to assist in the above operation.
Notably, Rahul was also identified as the key supplier behind the weapons consignment of 12 .32 bore Pistols and 15 magazines recovered by Amritsar Rural Police in January 2021. Besides, he had also emerged as the kingpin when Patiala Police had seized a weapons consignment of six .32 bore Pistols in September 2020.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Dhruv Dahiya, stated that the investigation has revealed that Rahul and other MP based weapon smugglers use various social media platforms, including WhatsApp, to establish a wide network of contacts in Punjab, for illegal supply of locally manufactured weapons.
These weapons suppliers target vulnerable youth, militant elements, gangsters and radical entities lodged in various Jails in the state to supply weapons said the SSP Dahiya adding that Rahul’s links had also been established earlier with an accused lodged inside the Amritsar Jail, in a drone module busted by Punjab Police in 2019.
The SSP said that detailed investigations were being conducted to unravel the entire weapons manufacturing, smuggling, and supply network, as well as identification of the physical and financial flows associated with the recovered and past consignments into Punjab.
Meanwhile, the arrests and recoveries were made as part of the investigation into FIR no. 199 dated December 10, 2020 under sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act at Police Station Gharinda, Amritsar Rural.