In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted an illegal arms and explosives smuggling module with the arrest of three individuals, and recovered six hand grenades and 12 sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Chintu, Jobanpreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi, all residents of village Kakkar in Amritsar. The recovered pistols include eight .30 bore and four 9MM pistols along with along with nine live cartridges.
Police team has also impounded their Hyundai i20 car, bearing registration number PB-13-5454, being used for transporting the consignments. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were operating on the directions of a foreign-based smuggler backed by ISI and abroad-based Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives.
The arrested accused were planning to carry out activities intended to disturb public peace across various cities in the border state, he said. Sharing operational details, he said that police teams from CI Amritsar had received reliable inputs that suspects identified as Chintu, Jobanpreet Singh, and Gurpreet alias Gopi had recently received a huge consignment of explosives, arms and ammunition from the Ajnala area on the instructions of their handlers and are expected to deliver the consignment to other associates near the underpass on the Bharatmala Bypass Highway, on the Amritsar-Chogawan Road in Amritsar.
Acting swiftly, police teams laid a Naka in Amritsar area and intercepted an i20 car in which the above mentioned three persons were travelling, he said, while adding that during search six hand grenades and 12 pistols were recovered from their possession. The DGP said that the case is being investigated thoroughly from multiple angles to establish forward and backward linkages and to uncover the complete network.
In this regard, a case FIR No. 45 dated 07-07-2026 under section 25 of the Arms Act, sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act and section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.