Two operatives of Portugal-based gangster held in Punjab

Chandigarh, Nov 8 (IANS) In a major blow to illegal arms smuggling networks, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar personnel apprehended two operatives of Portugal-based gangster Manpreet Singh, alias Mannu Ghanshampuria, further uncovering their links to major US-based criminals Balwinder Singh and Prabhdeep Singh, Punjab's Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said here on Friday.

Those arrested have been identified as Aditya Kapoor, a resident of Lahori Gate in Amritsar, and Ravinder Singh, a resident of Akarpura village in Gurdaspur.

Police teams have also recovered four weapons, including a sophisticated 9MM Glock pistol, two foreign-made .30 bore pistols, and one .32 bore pistol along with five magazines and 14 cartridges from their possession.

DGP Yadav said that in an intelligence-led operation, teams from CI Amritsar laid a special checkpoint at Mehta Road near the cattle market, Amritsar, and apprehended both the individuals when they were travelling on their motorcycle bearing registration number PB18Z5033. Police teams have also impounded their motorcycle, he added.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that the Kapoor is having 12 criminal cases registered against him and was operating on the directions of US-based criminals Balwinder Singh, alias Doni Bal, and Prabhdeep Singh. The latter are close associates of Mannu Ghanshampuria, who is brother of gangster Gopi Ghanshampuria.

The DGP said that these crime syndicates are rivals of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria organised crime syndicate.

The probe has also found that the arrested people have received the weapon consignment arranged by Doni Bal and Mannu Ghanshampuria and were hatching a conspiracy to commit some heinous crimes in the state on their directions, he said. He said that further investigations are underway to establish forward and backward linkages in this case. In this regard, an FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the Arms Act at Police Station State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), Amritsar.

--IANS

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