Amritsar. Nov 16: Amritsar Police on Sunday claimed to have cracked a Pakistan-linked arms and narcotics network, arresting five alleged operatives and seizing a cache that includes six sophisticated pistols and more than a kilogram of heroin. The operation, carried out by the Amritsar Commissionerate Police following intelligence inputs, yielded five .30-bore pistols, a Glock 9mm and 1 kg 10 g of heroin.
Investigators said the group had been in communication with Pakistan-based handlers through social-media channels and drone routes used to push weapons and narcotics into Punjab. Officials stated that the accused coordinated both movement and delivery of consignments once they crossed into Indian territory.
Cases under the Arms Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have been registered at Police Stations Cheharta and Cantonment. Police teams are now working to trace additional conduits, identify cross-border handlers and map the wider network believed to be operating along the international border. Further investigation is underway.
In a separate development, concerns have emerged after a woman pilgrim failed to return from Pakistan with a Sikh ‘jatha’ that had travelled across the border for the 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
Sources in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) said the woman, Sarbjit Kaur of Amanipur village in Kapurthala district, was missing when the group of more than 1,900 devotees arrived back in India on Thursday night. The pilgrims had entered Pakistan on November 4 via the Attari-Wagah border to offer prayers at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and other historic shrines.
Pakistan’s immigration authorities have alerted their Indian counterparts, who are now gathering details about Kaur and her family from her native village, SGPC sources added.
The ‘jatha’, led by acting Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj, visited Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, and several other gurdwaras in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
The pilgrimage went ahead after the Union government initially withheld permission citing the security environment, before later allowing the group to travel.
