CHENNAI:The police on Friday thwarted an alleged attempt to smuggle five pistols, 25 bullets and fake notes with a face value of Rs 4 lakh into the city. They halted the Guwahati-Trivandrum Express just ahead of the Thiruvotriyur station to catch the accused following a tip-off.
“Since we can arrest them only when they are within Chennai city limits, we waited for the train to get here. To avoid chaos at the railway station, we halted the train a little ahead of the Thiruvotriyur station around 5 am. But they appeared to have sensed trouble and got out of the train and started running. We chased them for about 1 km before we nabbed them,” said police inspector Veerakumar.
The arrested persons were identified as Pradeep (28), of Perambur, and Kamal (27), of Thirumangalam. The police suspect the duo had procured the counterfeit currency, mostly in Rs 2,000 notes, the pistols and bullets from Malda district in West Bengal.
Pradeep was already accused in a chain-snatching case and Kamal was said to be running a mobile shop at Saidapet. “We booked them under IPC Section 489 C and under sections of Arms Act,” said a police officer, adding that the local-make pistols were 7.6 mm and the accused had five magazines. Police sources said they got wind of the smuggling on questioning Rafiq, who has been lodged in Puzhal Prison in connection with a chain snatching case.