Four persons — including three Uttarakhand residents — allegedly linked with an arms-smuggling racket have been arrested from the border district of Gurdaspur and seven sophisticated pistols have been recovered from them, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday.The arrestees have been identified as Lovepreet Singh (26), Lovepreet Singh (25) and Jashandeep Singh (25), all residents of Sitarganj in Uttarakhand’ Udham Singh Nagar, and Harjinder Singh (23), a resident of Lakhan Kalan in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur.The recovered weapons include one Glock (made in Austria), four .30 bore pistols (made in China) and two .30 bores of local make, along with eight magazines. Police have also impounded a silver Maruti Swift vehicle bearing Uttarakhand registration number, which was allegedly being used for arms trafficking.DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused had alleged linkages with an individual based in Dubai and with another based in the USA — who had allegedly directed them to collect the illegal weapons.Sharing operational details, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Border Range, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said Gurdaspur Police had received specific intelligence that the suspects had retrieved a weapon consignment and are expected to deliver it to another party.He said police teams set up a check barrier and arrested all four accused, who were travelling by car — recovering seven illegal pistols and eight magazines from their possession.The IGP said further investigation is underway to uncover the complete network and establish backward and forward linkages, he added.A case has been registered under relevant provisions at Kalanaur police station in Gurdaspur.