Chandigarh, July 17 : Punjab Police's Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with links to Pakistan and arrested one of its operative after recovering ten .30 bore sophisticated pistols along with magazines from his possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

The arrested man has been identified as Harjinder Singh, a resident of Dall village in Tarn Taran.

The police said that he is a notorious narcotics smuggler with two cases pertaining to the NDPS Act has been registered against him and recently bailed-out from jail.

The development came a fortnight after CI Amritsar had busted a similar cross-border narcotics and illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of its three operatives -- Sarabjit Singh and Kulwinder Singh, both residents of Ferozepur, and Ashmandeep Singh of Tarn Taran -- and recovered eight sophisticated weapons, 1 kg heroin and Rs 2.9 lakh drug money from their possession.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused has been working in collusion with Pakistan-based smuggler, who has been using drones to drop weapon consignments from across the border.

The accused was further distributing the arms to criminals and gangsters across Punjab with intention to fuel criminal activities in the state, he said.

Sharing operation details, the DGP said teams of CI Amritsar received specific intelligence about retrieval of weapons consignments from the Indo-Pak border area falling near Dall village.

Acting swiftly, police teams have intercepted the suspect Harjinder Singh from near Bohru Pul on the Amritsar-Jhabal road, when he was going to deliver the consignment to some party, and recovered illegal weapons from his possession.

Further investigations are underway to establish linkages in this case and identify the person, who was supposed to receive the consignment.

A case has been registered under Sections 25, 25(1) (A) and 25(1) (B) of the Arms Act and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Police Station State Special Operation Cell in Amritsar.

/IANS