Overview
- Chandigarh police arrested three youths and an alleged intermediary after an Aug. 3 patrol stop that yielded foreign-made pistols, a magazine and 11 live cartridges.
- Gurugram police later arrested seven suspects and recovered four pistols, 18 cartridges, six phones and a torn ‘half’ currency note that officers say was used to verify hawala transactions.
- Investigators allege weapons were flown across the India–Pakistan border by small drones to rural landing sites and passed to local operatives through intermediaries on agricultural land.
- Police say absconding gang leaders, most notably Deepak Nandal who fled India in 2023 and is believed to be directing operations from abroad, used social media and encrypted messaging to recruit and order extortion and planned shootings.
- Authorities are now focused on digital and financial forensics to map transnational supply and command chains while prosecutions proceed and more arrests are expected.