KOCHI: Consider this: Guns, swords or rods used by the members of a criminal gang to attack opponents in the state could form the steel of the prison they would be put in future.
With the confiscated ‘tools’ becoming a burden for the police, the state government has decided to sell them off to the Steel Authority of India Ltd - Steel Complex Kerala Ltd which will go into the construction sector. The money thus made will be accounted to the state treasury. To begin with, some of the weapons kept at the Armed Reserve Camp, Thrissur, will go into the furnace, according to an order on May 4.
“The state government has accorded sanction to sell 145 deposited/confiscated weapons kept at the District AR Camp, Thrissur, to Steel Complex, Kozhikode, after melting them under the district armourer’s supervision strictly adhering to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ directions,” the order said.“The state police chief should remit the amount collected on this account in the treasury under intimation to the government,” the order said.
“The weapons include rifles, country-made guns, revolvers and pistols. In 2011, we had handed over a batch of weapons for melting,” said AR Camp Quarter Master Inspector Rajesh K K.The deposited weapons were mainly old rifles and revolvers of the police force, the officer said.
Sale to SAIL
The government has decided to sell the weapons off to the Steel Authority of India Ltd-Steel Complex Kerala