Chandigarh, June 24 (AHN) The Punjab Police have achieved a success in 152-day old 'Gangstran Te Vaar' operation by recovering a cache of 713 illegal arms from the possession of gangsters' accomplices, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.

The Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) on Tuesday also recovered 218 magazines with a total of 2,009 rounds of ammunition.

"The gangsters heavily lure youngsters to carry their illegal works, and offering them illegal weapons is one of them. The Punjab Police have recovered a huge cache of ammunition from time to time, but the weapons recovered from the henchmen of gangsters led to stopping various crimes across the state," an official statement quoting the DGP said.

The illegal weapons have been recovered during various search operations and drives launched by the AGTF.

Since the launch of 'Gangstran Te Vaar', 92 illegal arms, ammunition and magazines were recovered from Amritsar Rural, while a total of 201 have been recovered in Amritsar city, 155 in Ferozepur and 243 in Tarn Taran.

Last month, the police intensified search for illegal weapons, leading to a huge recovery of weapons.

The DGP added, "The weapons recovered range from sophisticated arms to country-made pistols. The AGTF is performing great work in coordination with other departments and in the coming days the crackdown on gangsters and their operations will continue across the state."

Recently, Amritsar Commissionerate Police busted a cross-border illegal arms smuggling module with the arrest of eight accused, carrying 11 sophisticated pistols and eight cartridges.

Preliminary investigation reveals that the accused were in contact with people 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.

The Commissionerate Police Ludhiana's Crime Investigation Agency Staff team has also achieved a major success by arresting two people in possession of illegal weapons.