Chandigarh, Oct 5 (IANS) Punjab Police on Wednesday busted a drone-based arms smuggling module with the arrest of two people, including an undertrial.
The arrested have been identified as Jaskaran Singh, lodged at Sub Jail in Goindwal Sahib, and Rattanbir Singh, who is out on bail.
Police recovered 10 foreign-made pistols, including five .30 bore (made in China) and five 9mm (made in the US) along with eight magazines from both of them, besides a mobile phone concealed by Jaskaran Singh in his barrack.
AIG Counter Intelligence, Amritsar, Amarjit Singh Bajwa said Jaskaran Singh was brought on a production warrant in a case pertaining to the NDPS Act, registered in August.
During questioning, he confessed that he was using a mobile phone in jail to contact Pakistan-based smugglers through WhatsApp for smuggling of narcotics and arms and ammunition from Pakistan via drones.
The AIG said for this purpose the accused was taking the help of Rattanbir Singh, who used to retrieve the consignments dropped via drones from different border areas.
Rattanbir Singh is also a co-accused in various NDPS cases with Jaskaran Singh.
Bajwa said one consignment of five .30 bore pistols along with four magazines was recovered from the location revealed by Jaskaran Singh on the Taran Taran-Ferozepur road, where Rattanbir Singh had concealed them.
After the meeting of Rahul Gandhi with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and T.S. Singh Deo, it is widely expected that the state could see a minor portfolio reshuffle. Singh Deo may be given more importance in the cabinet and it's likely he may be allotted a portfolio soon. Currently he holds the health portfolio.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he will invite Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Punjab Governor V.P. Badnore and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as guests at the special session.
Chidambaram was addressing a press conference at the fag-end of his two-day visit to the state in the capacity as the All India Congress Committee's senior observer in charge of Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Punjab annually generates 20 million tonnes of paddy straw and this is normally set on fire to quickly clear the fields for the next crop, resulting in choking of the National Capital Region (NCR) in October and November.
Priyanka's remarks came after farmers on Tuesday evening vacated the railway tracks and highways in Punjab after the Amarinder Singh government accepted the demands of the sugarcane farmers.
The 'rebel' legislators reached Dehradun in the morning to apprise Rawat about the mood of the public against the Amarinder Singh-led government in the state. They, among 20-odd party legislators, have been demanding replacement of Amarinder Singh as he failed to fulfill the 2017 poll promises.
