The Bihar police met with huge success on Tuesday, when a special team, working on inputs garnered from the huge haul of explosives and arms in the capital landed in impressive cache in Bokaro in Jharkhand.
A joint police force fo the two states, led by the Patna police unearthedhe
special drive against peddlers of explosives and firearms continued for 32,000 live cartridges, one AK-47 rifle, two INSAS rifles, three hand grenades and a huge quantity of explosives on the third day of its special drive to seal flow of arms into Jharkhand by criminal gangs and Maoists for use in the polls there in December.
Acting on a tip off provided by alleged associates of Subodh Singh, kingpin of the racket, a Patna police team led by DSP (Sadar) Pankaj Kumar carried out raid on the house of Onkarnath in sector 12 of Bokaro Steel City and seized the explosives and sophisticated weapons.
However, the police failed to make any arrest as no one was present in the house at the time of the raid. Locals told the police that the house was locked and the inmates had escaped a few days ago. “It seems that they had an inkling of the police raid after the fiasco in Patna, where their stockpiles were seized in two different raids over the last two days. ,” said a member of the raiding team.
Of the 32,000 seized live cartridges, 10,000 were of 12 bore, 1600 of .315 bore and 6,000 0f .22 bore. The police also seized explosive material from the house.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vineet Vinayak confirmed the seizure of explosives, arms and ammunition from Bokaro and said that it was being verified whether the seized weapons were looted from Bihar police personnel. The police also recovered some documents from the house, which describe the process of manufacturing firearms and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Some Naxal literature was also seized during the operation, which began at 11.30 am and concluded at 3 pm.
Bokaro Superintendent of Police Saket Kumar Singh said that the house located in the Bari Cooperative Colony on Bokaro-Ramgarh Road belonged to Parmanand Singh. Singh’s son in-law Onkar had rented it out to Subodh, who had introduced himself as a contractor engaged in installation of mobile phone towers in Bihar and Jharkhand.
On November 8, the police had seized liquid explosive, 14 carbine-manufacturing machines, two pistols, 7,221 live cartridges, 50 detonators, one box, containing naxal literature, CD and cassettes from Kankerbagh Colony More.
Additional Director General (headquarters) U S Dutt said the entire operation was being monitored by senior police officials. “If required, we will seek the help of neighbouring states to expose the arms deal racket,” he said, adding that Tuesday’s raid at Bokaro was carried out with the help of the Jharkhand police.
“We share intelligence inputs and carry out joint operations against Naxalites and notorious gangsters in Bihar and Jharkhand,” he added.