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.
Beyond voice identification, PAIS integrates a robust criminal database of over 3,90,000 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 ‘Gangstran Te Vaar’, 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, additional director general of police (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.
“Earlier, we were often dealing with isolated incidents. Under the anti-gangster drive, PAIS 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.
“This is a paradigm shift from reactive policing to predictive policing. Under the anti-gangster drive, we are able to identify threats, track conversations, and intervene before a crime is executed. That is the real power of AI in policing. Our message is clear: no matter where criminals operate from, we have the capability and the technology to track them, expose them, and bring them to justice,” he added.
