In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence Pathankot has busted an illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of its two members and recovered four pistols along with ammunition, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.
Those arrested have been identified as Kanwalpreet Singh alias Kanwar, a resident of village Buttar Kalan in Batala and Ranjit Singh, a resident of Bhaini Bangar in Gurdaspur. The recovered weapons include One 9MM Glock Pistol, one .30 bore pistol and two .32 bore pistols along with four magazines and 39 cartridges. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that accused Kanwalpreet was in contact with USA-based Gangster Pavittar Singh Chaurra, a native of village Chaurra in Batala, and was acting at his behest.
Probe has also revealed that Gangster Pavittar Chaurra has arranged this weapon consignment to further supply to the criminal elements to disturb the hard-earned peace and harmony of the border state, he added. The DGP said that further investigations are being conducted to establish backward and forward linkages to unearth this entire network. Efforts are also being made to discover the other previous crimes committed by the accused, he added.
Sharing more details, AIG CI Pathankot Sukhminder Singh Mann said that following reliable intel-inputs that the two operatives of Gangster Pavittar Chaurra has retrieved a weapon consignment, Police teams from CI Pathankot launched an intelligence-led operation and arrested both the accused persons from the area of Police district Batala.
He said that both the arrested accused persons have a criminal history with accused Kanwalpreet Singh was arrested in three criminal cases pertaining to murder attempt, criminal trespassing as well as causing hurt. After getting released from Gurdaspur jail on December 10, 2024, accused Kanwalpreet again got involved in criminal activities and a case of firing in which some persons fired gunshots on a house with an intention to kill the owner was lodged against him, he added.
The AIG said that similarly, accused Ranjit Singh is also involved in a case under Arms Act registered at Police Station Ghaniye Ke Bangar in Police District Batala. A case FIR No. 12 dated 05.03.2025 has been registered under section 25 of the Arms Act and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Police Station SSOC Amritsar.