Chandigarh, May 3 -- The Punjab Police are now equipped with a voice recognition system under the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) to target gangs operating from abroad that are misguiding youth to carry out illegal activities in the state. It has an AI-powered voice recognition system, which houses a "voice bank" of over 84,000 samples of known criminals and suspects, said officials. Beyond voice identification, PAIS integrates a database of over 3.90 lakh offenders, complete with gang affiliations and phonetic search capabilities. Its advanced gang tree search tool allows investigators to visualise the hierarchy of organised crime networks, linking street-level crimes to their international masterminds. "For years, foreign-based gangsters have exploited technology to run extortion rackets from safe havens abroad. Under the anti-gangster drive, PAIS has become a force multiplier. Our AI-driven voice matching can identify the caller within minutes, allowing us to act swiftly and decisively," said Promod Ban, ADGP, Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF). Nearly 60 notorious gangsters linked to Punjab are operating from countries such as Canada, the United States, Italy, and others, and law enforcement agencies have been grappling with a new wave of "remote-controlled" extortion, where threats are issued via encrypted apps and international virtual numbers. "PAIS also allows us to see the entire ecosystem: who is funding, who is coordinating and who is executing. This intelligence-led approach is helping us dismantle entire networks, not just arrest individuals," he said....