Munger in Bihar emerging as service centre of illegal weapons, including AK-47s
On Tuesday, Munger police raided a house in Dilawarpur village and recovered spare parts like 15 magazines, 11 pistol grip, three bridge-bold, 11 fault bold, four gas tube, 11 body cover etc, which were buried in the earth.
Hitherto known has the hub of illegal arms manufacturing, Munger has now also emerged as the centre for after -sales service and repair of illegal weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles.
This came to light following the recovery of a large quantity of spare parts during the ongoing district-wide raids in the state being carried out under superintendent of police (SP) Babu Ram.
It was during Ram’s brief stint in the absence of regular SP, who has gone on training, that 20 AK-47 assault rifles were recovered and raids were on for more recoveries.
“The recovery of large quantity of spare parts of AK-47 and other weapons clearly show that it has ready demand. The challenge before the police is to find out where exactly the supplies from Munger reached and who all are the beneficiaries. It may be extremist and terrorist outfits. The raids will continue with greater intensity,” said a senior police officer. Some powerful politicians have also come under the scanner of police who allegedly bought these weapons.
Ram said six separate FIRs have been lodged against 30 persons in connection with recovery of AK-47s and six have so far been arrested. He said arms smugglers had even given the facility of ‘repairing centre’ for buyers of AK-47 assault rifles in the event of arms malfunctioning after the sale.
“We are investigating the case from all angles, including the terror angle. There are tip offs that weapons have been hidden underground and underwater and so we are using JCB machines as well as expert divers. The raids have been conducted in village Wardah, Mubarakchak and Murgiachak, while in village Dilawarpur it is still on,” he added.
Babu Ram said a team of 10 officers has been set up, with adequate reinforcements, to dig deep. “We are looking into the property of the accused and supply chain of weapons, besides the hidden stocks. The arrested persons are being constantly interrogated to get vital clues to work upon,” he added.
Police said international links of illegal arms manufacturers was also under scanner in view of earlier reports of recovery of some Munger-made weapons in an attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh in July 2016. “So far, the link has not been found, but terror angle is being probed,” he added.
On Tuesday, Munger police raided the house of one Shabnam Sultana at Dilawarpur village and recovered parts of the arms—like 15 magazines, 11 pistol grip, three bridge-bold, 11 fault bold, four gas tube, 11 body cover etc, which were buried in the earth. Sultana and her husband Manji are still absconding.
At present the recovered weapons are being tested by forensic science lab and verification process is on to ascertain whether they belonged to the ordnance depot at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. The Munger police have arrested Mohammad Imran, Md Shamsher Alam, Rizwana Khatoon, Amna Khatoon, Niyazur Rehman alias Gullo and Tanvir Alam. Gullo was arrested from New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal while Tanvir nabbed from Hazaribag in Jharkhand.
Earlier, Jabalpur police arrested Purushottam Lal, Shivendra Lal and Suresh Thakur following the arrest of Mohammad Imran. Sources in the home department said Shamsher has taken names of some politicians, including an MLA from the ruling party, as well to whom he sold the weapons.
