Amritsar, June 19 -- Punjab Police busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of eight persons and recovery of 11 sophisticated pistols from their possession, director general of police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday. The recovered weapons include four .30 bore (made in China), four .30 bore PX5 Storm, one .30 bore Zigana, one 9MM Glock (made in Austria), and one 9mm (made in Austria), along with eight live cartridges. Those arrested have been identified as Gulabjit Singh alias Prince (21) and Harpreet Singh alias Preet (23), both residents of Attari in Amritsar; Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi (24) of village Hardowal in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur; Kuljit Singh (39) and Shamsher Singh alias Shera (40), both residents of Ranian village in Amritsar; Aman Rana alias Chini (20) of Chheharta in Amritsar; Sharanjit Singh alias Sunny (29) of Kiralgarh in Amritsar; and Ajay Singh (23) of Malia village in Tarn Taran. The DGP said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were allegedly in contact with foreign-based operatives involved in the supply of illegal weapons. The recovered arms were intended for distribution among criminal elements and for use in extortion, violent crimes, and other unlawful activities, he said. Yadav said further investigation is underway to identify other associates connected with the network, and ascertain further recoveries and arrests. Sharing operational details, Amritsar commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said acting on secret information and carrying out a planned intelligence-based operation, police teams arrested Gulabjit and Harpreet and recovered two pistols from their possession. On the basis of further investigation, police teams arrested Gurpreet and recovered four pistols from his possession, he said, while adding that on the disclosure statement of Gurpreet, police teams arrested his two associates Kuljit and Shamsher resulting in recovery of two pistols from their possession. He said that during interrogation, Gurpreet disclosed that he was in contact with foreign-based gangsters through social media applications and the latter was arranging illegal consignments of weapons through drones at different locations in the Attari sector....