Amritsar border arms haul exposes Australia-linked smuggling network
The Border Security Force in Punjab, in a joint operation with the Punjab Police, has arrested a man and recovered 26 firearms near the India-Pakistan
The Border Security Force in Punjab, in a joint operation with the Punjab Police, has arrested a man and recovered 26 firearms near the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar, a senior police officer said on Friday. The seizure included an AK-47 rifle, 25 pistols, 368 live cartridges, 48 magazines and a US-made bullet-proof vest. Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said preliminary investigation showed that the accused was working on the directions of an associate based in Australia, who allegedly shared the weapons drop location through social media applications. Police said further investigation is under way to identify all those involved and trace the wider network.
Read Full Story The accused was identified as Rohan Khosla, a resident of Roopnagar Colony in Amritsar. He was arrested near the International Border in a joint operation by the BSF Punjab and the State Special Operations Cell, Amritsar. According to a Punjab Police statement, the recovered firearms included one AK-47 rifle, fourteen 9mm pistols and eleven.30 bore pistols of Norinco Star Mark, Glock, Zigana, Taurus and Walther makes. Police said the team also impounded a car with a Punjab registration number that the accused was allegedly using to smuggle the weapons. Additional IG, SSOC Amritsar, Sukhminder Singh Mann said the operation was carried out after the BSF shared an input about the retrieval of a drone-dropped consignment of weapons in the area of Border Outpost Shahpur.
He said the teams of SSOC Amritsar and BSF personnel then apprehended Khosla while he was driving a Hyundai i20. During the search of the car, they recovered 25 sophisticated pistols, one AK-47 rifle, live cartridges, magazines and one US-made bullet-proof vest. Mann said it was also learnt that the accused was acting as a local link to deliver the consignment to further recipients on the instructions of his Australia-based associate. An FIR was registered on Friday at Police Station SSOC Amritsar under the Arms Act, relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam. Yadav described the action as a major breakthrough against cross-border arms smuggling and said the investigation is continuing to establish forward and backward linkages, identify all associates, uncover the full cross-border arms trafficking syndicate and dismantle the terror network.
The operation near the Amritsar border led to the arrest of one accused and the recovery of a large cache of weapons and ammunition, with investigators now focusing on the alleged Australia-based handler and the wider cross-border smuggling network. Ends
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