Three arrested with 2 assault rifles, 10 kg heroin in Punjab’s Amritsar
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PunjabPolice dismantled an illegal arms and narcotics supply network in Amritsar, arresting three individuals with 10 kg of heroin and two assault rifles, a top police officer said on Tuesday (September 29, 2026).
The accused were allegedly linked to foreign-based smugglers and were procuring illegal weapons and narcotics for further supply in the border State, police investigation revealed, said Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav.
In a "unique" modus operandi, the accused had taken approximately one acre of land on lease for a guava orchard at Modhe village — situated merely 500 metres from the India-Pakistan border — and utilised it as a landing and retrieving site for drug and weapons consignments dropped via drones from across the border, police said.
Yadav said police recovered 10.030 kg of heroin, two sophisticated assault rifles — an AK-47 and an AK-56 — along with three magazines and 10 live cartridges from their possession.
Those arrested have been identified as Sandeep Singh, 32, his wife Kamaljit Kaur, 31, and her brother Bikramjit Singh, 23, all residents of Amritsar Rural.
Amritsar Rural Senior Superintendent of Police Kanwalpreet Singh Chahal said that while accused Sandeep and his wife were jointly managing the cross-border smuggling operations, her brother Bikramjit Singh assisted as a courier in retrieving, transporting, and delivering the consignments.
Accused Sandeep Singh is a history-sheeter with four criminal cases pertaining to the Arms Act, the NDPS Act, etc., registered against him.
Investigation revealed that the accused were allegedly linked to foreign-based smugglers and were procuring illegal weapons and narcotics for further supply in the State.
Further investigation is underway to uncover the complete backward and forward linkages in this case to identify other persons involved in the network, he said.
Sharing operational details, Border Range IGP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that, acting swiftly on specific intelligence, police teams from Police Station Gharinda conducted a targeted operation and apprehended the trio along with the contraband and assault weapons.
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