Second employee of Kolkata gun shop arrested in ammunition smuggling case
A century-old gun shop located within 200 mt of the Kolkata police headquarters at Lalbazar, was searched and sealed on Saturday after one of its employees was arrested
Kolkata: The special task force (STF) of the West Bengal police arrested another employee of a gun shop in Kolkata on Monday in connection with a probe into illegal sale of arms and ammunition, officials involved in the probe said.
The suspect, identified as Shantanu Sarkar, was remanded in police custody by a local court until February 28. Officials said Sarkar is suspected to have supplied a 12 bore shotgun to a man arrested earlier.
Five people were arrested between Friday and Sunday.
N C Daw and Company, a century-old gun shop located within 200 mt of the Kolkata police headquarters at Lalbazar, was searched and sealed on Saturday evening hours after one of its employees, Jayanta Dutta, was arrested.
“The stock registers of the shop are being checked for discrepancies in procurement and sale of both firearms and ammunition,” an STF official said, requesting anonymity.
The owners of the gun shop were questioned for several hours on Monday. They refused to talk to the media.
STF first raided the home of Haji Rashid Molla, a businessman residing at Jibantala in South 24 Parganas district, on Friday and seized 190 rounds of 7.65 mm pistol cartridge made by the Indian Ordnance Factory along with a 12-bore shotgun and nine shells meant for the weapon.
Asique Iqbal Gazi and Abdul Salim Gazi, who are residents of Hasnabad in North 24 Parganas district, and Jayanta Dutta were arrested on Saturday.
Farooque Mallick, a fish trader, was arrested from Basirhat in North 24 Parganas on Sunday and a 12-bore shotgun was seized from him as well.
Haji Rashid Molla claimed before STF officials that he had a license for the 12-bore shotgun seized from his home but none of the suspects could account for the 190 rounds of pistol ammunition.
STF officials said these cartridges are used at random these days in improvised semi-automatic pistols criminals carry. Gunsmiths in Bengal and Bihar’s Munger can make such pistols with basic tools and lathe machines but ammunition cannot be produced without modern machines that only ordnance factories have.
The stocks of arms and ammunition at all gun shops in Kolkata are checked by the Arms Act department of the city police every month.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Verma said his officers have shared some information with the Bengal STF team.