BHUBANESWAR: The Special Crime Unit (SCU) of Commissionerate Police on Friday arrested an arms dealer from the outskirts of the city and seized six semi-automatic pistols, as many magazines and 10 rounds of live ammunition from him.
Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said, “Acting on a tip-off, the SCU conducted a raid near Kujimahal playground in Chandaka and apprehended Manoj Kumar Mallick of Binjharpur in Jajpur district.”
Mallick was earlier booked in a rape case, but his involvement in illegal arms trade went unnoticed for the last several years. Investigation revealed he has been supplying illegal weapons in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda and Puri since around seven years.
Mallick came under the police radar a few months back. Bhubaneswar police had attempted to arrest him about four months back when he was travelling from Jajpur to Puri by road. However, he changed his plan and boarded a train in Baranga to reach Puri to execute an arms deal, said sources.
During questioning, Mallick reportedly said he was procuring the semi-automatic pistols from Bodhgaya in Bihar for Rs 40,000 to Rs 42,000 each. His clients comprised mainly land mafia operating in capital’s Bharatpur and Chandaka areas as well as other regions in the state. He sold each gun for Rs 70,000 to Rs 75,000, police said.
Police added the semi-automatic pistols he was selling were compact and easy to conceal as compared to the bigger guns manufactured in Bihar’s Munger.
In the last six months, Bhubaneswar police have arrested 42 arms dealers and seized 40 guns and two carbines from them.