Punjab Police on Sunday said it has thwarted three possible target killings with the arrest of five key operatives of the Bambiha-Kaushal gang.

Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said the arrested have been identified as Jaspreet Singh alias Jassa of village Boparai Kalan in Jalandhar, Harshdeep Singh of village Garage Mehdood in Hoshiarpur, Shekhar of village Muradpur in Tarntaran, Gagandeep Singh alias Ginni Bajwa of New Model House in Jalandhar and Amit Sahota of village Bambian Wal in Jalandhar.

Police also recovered nine weapons', including eight pistols and a revolver, along with 15 live cartridges from their possession.  DGP Yadav said the accused were involved in multiple serious offenses, including extortion, murder and arms trafficking across several districts of Punjab.

Several cases have already been registered against these accused persons, he added. The DGP said further investigations are going on to uncover their broader network and establish both backward and forward linkages to dismantle the gang completely.

Sharing operation details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Jalandhar Swapan Sharma said following reliable inputs that members of Bambiha-Kaushal gang were planning a major criminal activity in the state, police put up a checkpoint at BSF Chowk and arrested three accused persons including Jaspreet Jassa, Harshdeep and Shekhar after recovering six weapons from their possession. He said later, two more operatives of the gang identified as Gagandeep Ginni and Amit Sahota were arrested from Naka near Bhargo Camp and three weapons have been recovered from their possession.  Further investigations are on and more arrests are expected, he added.