The Ashok Nagar police unearthed yet another inter-State arms trafficking racket and arrested four men while they were waiting for their customers. The police recovered two country-made pistols, five rounds of ammunition, one magazine, two bikes and five mobile phones from the gang.
After receiving a tip-off, a team went to the location near a cemetery on Hosur Road and nabbed the accused, who have been identified as Sonu Kumar, 32, Sunil Kumar, 32, Irfan Imtiyaz, 26 and Murali Vinod, 47.
The accused allegedly confessed to the police that they sourced the weapons from their contact, one Lutan Singh, who operates out of Sultanganj in Bihar. “All four accused have been booked under the Arms Act, 1959, and have been taken into custody. We are investigating their trade network,” said a police officer.
This is the second weapons racket that the police have uncovered in less than a week. On Saturday, the Central Crime Branch police arrested three inter-State gun runners and recovered seven weapons and 19 rounds of ammunition from them. The accused, Ayazulla, 30, Syed Siraj, 42, and Arun Kumar, 26, reportedly sourced the firearms from Amristsar and Shirdi. “They were selling it to gangsters and habitual offenders here,” said another police official, noting that cases of arms trafficking are on the rise.
Since January this year, the Benglauru police have registered as many as six cases of people selling firearms, ammunition, etc, illegally.
After a series of murders happened in broad daylight, including that of former councillor Rekha Kadiresh in Cottonpet, the city police cracked the whip on gangsters and rowdy elements. Simultaneous raids were carried out on the houses of rowdies and also at Central Jail, Parappana Agrahara. “Despite such strict action, the sale of guns continues, and is a matter of concern for the Police Department,” said the police official.
