AMRITSAR — Counter-terror and narcotics detectives smashed a cross-border smuggling conduit along the international boundary, seizing a military-grade rocket-propelled grenade launcher, two Glock pistols, and 15.4 kilograms of illicit drugs. Seven suspects are in custody.
The strike intercepted the consignment before operatives could move it into interior networks.
Officers from Amritsar Rural Police, acting in coordination with a central intelligence agency, intercepted the haul during targeted counter-trafficking operations. The recovered stockpile included a NATO-22 configuration RPG launcher, two Glock handguns, more than 100 live rounds of ammunition, a delivery drone, a satellite tracking module, and five smartphones, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav confirmed. The drug haul comprised 7.904 kilograms of heroin, 2.344 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 5.152 kilograms of raw opium.
The operation broke across the border belt as surveillance units tracked coordinated drop patterns across vast agricultural tracts abutting Pakistan.
Smugglers deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to drop parcels into standing crops under cover of darkness. But they added a technical wrinkle. Investigators recovered a digital GPS tracker directly at the drop zone—marking the first documented recovery of a localized locator beacon by state police. Traitors used the transmitters to pinpoint crate drops in featureless farmland.
"The recovery of the RPG during the festival season was an important preventive achievement," said Border Range Inspector General Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.
Among those taken into custody was Gurkirpal Singh, apprehended alongside a juvenile associate during the sweeps. Interrogations quickly unmasked the operational logistics. Police identified Balkar Singh as the veteran syndicate leader driving the ring. According to investigators, Balkar ran narcotics runs for years, targeting local youth and systematically recruiting minors through cash advances to retrieve parachute-dropped payloads from border fields.
The devices can help identify the precise locations of consignments, particularly in areas where agricultural fields extend along the international border.
Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Inspector General of Police, Border Range
Detectives are examining whether the weapons haul and the dual-stream drug consignments operated through a single shared conduit or distinct criminal syndicates sharing logistics. Disclosed intelligence reveals the suspects operated under direct tasking from overseas handlers who organized both hardware drops and retail supply lines.
| Case Parameter | Official Status |
|---|---|
| Accused In Custody | Gurkirpal Singh, Balkar Singh, one juvenile associate, and 4 others (7 total) |
| Seized Hardware | 1 NATO-22 RPG Launcher, 2 Glock Pistols, 100+ cartridges, 1 drone, 1 GPS tracker |
| Seized Narcotics | 7.904 kg Heroin, 2.344 kg Methamphetamine, 5.152 kg Opium (15.4 kg total) |
| Jurisdiction Stations | Gharinda, Lopoke, and Bhindi Saida Police Stations |
| Inter-Agency Coordination | Amritsar Rural Police with Central Intelligence Agency |
Investigators filed three separate First Information Reports across the Gharinda, Lopoke, and Bhindi Saida police stations covering cross-border smuggling, arms trafficking, and narcotics distribution. Under statutory juvenile protection guidelines, the minor suspect remains under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice authorities without public disclosure of personal identifiers.
State interrogators are now mapping the forward recipients intended to take delivery of the RPG and pistols in Punjab's interior, while forensic units extract flight logs from the seized drone and GPS module to establish the exact Pakistani launch coordinates ahead of district court remand filings.