Delhi: 45 hand guns seized from 2 passengers at IGI
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Jul, 2022 04:02 PM
New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) The Customs department has seized as many as 45 hand guns from two passengers -- both Indian nationals, here at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, an official said on Wednesday.
The guns were seized from Jagjit Singh and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, who arrived here from Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) on July 11 along with their infant daughter.
"The passengers were intercepted by the Customs officers when they had crossed the green channel of the arrival hall and were approaching the east gate," the official said.
"Jagjit Singh was carrying two trolley bags which were handed over to him by his elder brother Manjit Singh, who had arrived from Paris almost at the same time and day Jagjit and Jaswinder arrived from Vietnam," the official said, adding after this Manjit managed to slip out of the airport.
He said that Jaswinder Kaur was also an active part of the plan and helped remove and destroy the tags of both the trolley bags containing 45 guns.
"Both the accused passengers have admitted their previous indulgence in smuggling of 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey," said the official.
Accordingly, the two trolley bags along with recovered guns were seized and the passengers were arrested under section 104 of the Customs Act.
Meanwhile, sources told IANS that a ballistics report will confirm whether the guns are real or not. "But in a preliminary report, the NSG has confirmed that the guns are fully functional and can be used," a source said.
According to sources, Singh, a resident of Faridkot, was the person who had launched the attack on Monday. A rocket-propelled grenade or RPG was fired from the street that shattered the window panes of Punjab Police's intelligence headquarters in Mohali.
Lt Gen Aujla, an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, was commissioned in December 1987 and has had an illustrious military career spanning 35 years during which he has held varied prestigious command, staff and instructional appointments.
The area around the Intelligence Bureau office has been sealed and investigation is in progress. A bomb disposal and forensic squads have been positioned at the spot. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke to Director General of Police V.K. Bhawra and sought details about the incident.
Notably, the police detained several people, including party workers, who were not allowing the SDMC to carry out the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh. After the agitation was quelled, the bulldozer moved forward to demolish the illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building. It is at this juncture that Khan reached the spot and was seen speaking to the officials.
Punjab shares a 553-km barbed-wire fenced international border with Pakistan which is under the vigil of nearly 135 BSF battalions. The drug network operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.
