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.
With over 30 deaths linked to drug abuse being reported in June from different parts of Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is facing an onslaught from the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for his government's failure to curb the menace.
Moved by images of a child hugging his father’s corpse, crying bitterly, residents of Dhotian village in Tarn Taran have declared a war on drugs — help or no help from the police.
Congress leader Manish Tewari has dared the Punjab government to make dope test mandatory for MLAs and MPs from the state to remove the artificial distinction between the meaning of state government employees.
Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday said he was willing to undergo dope test, but would leave it to the conscience of other elected representatives to take a decision on the same.
Seeking to overturn centuries-old tradition of not allowing non-Hindus to enter Shri Jagannath Temple at Puri in Odisha, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the temple management to consider opening it to everyone irrespective of his/her faith.
