CUTTACK: Jagatpur police busted an inter-state arms smuggling syndicate and arrested three persons here on Monday.
The accused Prakash Behera alias Babua (42) of Sheikh Bazar in Lalbag, Pyari Mohan Das alias Pintu (41) of Kutilagram village and Mihir Ray (39) of Keulo in Jagatsinghpur’s Tirtol area were nabbed wth four firearms and 12 live ammunition.
Briefing mediapersons, Cuttack DCP K Vishal Singh said acting on a tip-off, a team of Jagatpur police led by Zone-1 ACP Arun Kumar Swain with the help of a special squad raided Sheikh Bazar on Sunday night and nabbed Babua. A 9 mm pistol and three live bullets were seized from him.
During interrogation, Babua revealed the names of his four associates and confessed they had procured the arms and ammunition from Munger district in Bihar with a plan to loot ATM cash vans in Cuttack and adjoining districts.
Basing on the information provided by him, police arrested Pintu and Mihir from Jagatsinghpur. While two firearms and seven live bullets were seized from Pintu’s possession, another firearm along with two live bullets were recovered from Mihir.
The trio further revealed names of their other aides in Munger from whom they had procured the firearms. “Efforts are underway to nab the other two members. The accused will be brought on remand for further investigation. A special team of Cuttack UPD will soon visit Munger for detection of the source point and arrest of the illegal arms and ammunition suppliers,” Singh informed.