CUTTACK: Commissionerate Police on Tuesday busted an arms smuggling racket and arrested 12 persons, including a home guard. Police also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from them.Acting on intelligence input, simultaneous raids were conducted at different places jointly by Chauliaganj, Jagatpur, Malgodown and Markatnagar police with the help of a special squad.
While 12 persons were nabbed in connection with the illegal gun trade, seven pistols, 35 live ammunition and a car seized from their possession, said Additional DCP Trinath Mishra.“A home guard working at Tirtol police station was also part of the gang. Bullets were also seized from him. Further investigation is underway to find out whether he was earlier involved in any such criminal activities,” said Mishra.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused used to supply arms and ammunition to anti-socials for various crimes, including extortion. They procure guns from Munger in Bihar and sell those to criminals for Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per piece. They also supply two/three rounds of bullets to the buyers as samples along with the guns, he added. “We suspect that the accused are having link with gangster D-brothers and carrying out arms smuggling as per their instructions,” said Mishra.