KOLKATA: Police today seized arms, ammunition and several "incriminating documents" from the residence of suspected arms dealer Monotosh Dey, who was arrested earlier this week along with two others with alleged links to a banned terror group in Bangladesh.
Two country-made revolvers, a huge cache of ammunition and documents including a few maps of India were seized from Dey's rented accommodation in Basirhat's Raghunathpur in North 24 Parganas district during a raid, a senior officer of Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) said.
Last Tuesday, the STF arrested Dey, along with two suspected terrorists —- Samsad Mia alias Tanvir Saiful and Rizaul Islam —- allegedly working for Bangladesh's banned terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from the city's Kolkata Station and seized several forged documents including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards besides arms and ammunition from their possession.
On Friday, Police arrested another person -- Mohammed Sahadat Hossain -- who was allegedly involved in helping ABT terrorists cross the border.
Dey is suspected of supplying arms and ammunition to agents of Bangladeshi terror groups, who have managed to sneak into India.
According to the senior officer of the STF, who was part of the raid, Dey's second wife Afroza Bibi was also grilled for over an hour.
"We tried to find out whether she was involved with Dey in his crime of supplying arms and ammunition. From her answers, it seems she knew what Dey was up to. We are still looking for answers to some crucial questions," he said.
Police suspect the arms and ammunition recovered from Dey's house today were part of a consignment which the accused was "preparing to deliver in November".
"Though it is yet to be clear for whom Dey was preparing the order, it seems that it was part of the arms and ammunition package he had taken on contract to the Kolkata Station for the two ABT terrorists last week," the officer said.
Dey, who was earlier living in Ichchapur in North 24 Parganas district, was earlier arrested for his involvement in an arms dealing case, besides three other cases, under different police stations in the city which are still pending, police said.
"He had used several fake names in order to get rooms on rent. In Basirhat, he used two fake identity cards to get rented accommodation at two different locations," the officer said, adding that the two women involved with Dey were also questioned as part of the investigation.
Police are examining if Dey had any links to the Ichchapur Rifle Factory, where his late father was an employee.
The police came to know the names of three terrorists -- Shopon Biswas alias Sajol Ahmed, Mohammed Aftab Khan alias Umar Faruque and Nayan Gazi alias Zafar -- after grilling Samsad and Rizaul.
"These three terrorists had entered India probably some time in mid-July with the help of Sahadat. As per our intelligence inputs, they were in the city even in October. We need to nab them as soon as possible," the officer said.
The city police has issued a lookout notice for the three suspected terrorists and shared their photographs on their Facebook page and announced a reward for individuals providing information.