Coming heavily on gang-related activities and hitting massively to their networks’ spine, the Bhagwant Mann Government’s sustained crackdown on organised crime through Punjab Police has yielded a huge success in 152 days of operation ‘Gangstran Te Vaar’ by recovering a massive cache of illegal weapons from the possession of gangsters’ accomplices across the state, dealing a significant blow to criminal networks.
Since the start of operation ‘Gangstran Te Vaar’, the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) has recovered a total of 713 illegal arms and as many as 218 magazines with a total of 2,009 rounds of ammunition in the total 152 days of the operation, across Punjab.
On this, Punjab Police DGP, Gaurav Yadav, "The gangsters heavily lure youngsters to carry their illegal works, and offering them illegal weapons is one of them. The Punjab Police has recovered a huge cache of ammunition from time to time, but the weapons recovered from the henchmen of gangsters led to stopping various crimes across the state.
The police remain firmly committed to a zero-tolerance policy against illegal arms trafficking, cross-border smuggling, and organised crime." Meanwhile, these illegal weapons have been recovered during various search operations and drives launched by AGTF.
Since the launch of ‘Gangstran Te Vaar’, as many as 92 illegal arms, ammunition and magazines were recovered from Amritsar Rural, while a total of 201 have been recovered in Amritsar city, 155 in Ferozepur and 243 in Tarn Taran (till April 30), depicting the amount of effort made by the police in curbing crime in these major districts.
Last month, the state police intensified their search for illegal weapons, which led to a huge recovery of weapons. The DGP added, "The weapons recovered range from sophisticated arms to country-made pistols. The AGTF is performing great work in coordination with other departments, and in the coming days the crackdown on gangsters and their operations will continue across the state."
Recently, in a major breakthrough, Amritsar Commissionerate Police busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of eight accused, carrying 11 sophisticated pistols and eight live cartridges. Preliminary investigation reveals that the accused were in contact with persons involved in the supply of illegal weapons.
The recovered arms were intended for distribution among criminal elements and for use in extortion, violent crimes and other unlawful activities. The Commissionerate Police Ludhiana CIA Staff team has also achieved a major success by arresting two persons in possession of illegal weapons.