Man held at Mumbai airport with two live cartridges

A man from Surat was arrested at Mumbai airport for illegal possession of two live cartridges found in his bag while getting his luggage screened.

MUMBAI: A man from Surat was arrested on Wednesday for illegal possession of two live cartridges found in his bag at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA). The incident came to light when the accused, Muaviyah Asifmiyan Shaikh, 25, was getting his luggage screened on Tuesday for his early morning flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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The security personnel at the auto screening machine noticed something suspicious in his luggage and took Shaikh aside for a physical check of his luggage.

“We found two live cartridges in his bag. When we asked him whether he had the necessary permissions or license to own any firearms, he could not provide any satisfactory answers. Since it was clear that he used some illegal means to get the cartridges, we alerted the police,” said the security personnel in his statement to the police. The accused, along with the cartridges was handed over to the police early in the morning. “Based on our interrogation and the statement of the security personnel at CSMIA, we booked the accused under relevant sections of the Arms Act,” said an officer from Sahar Police. Shaikh was produced before a metropolitan magistrate court on Tuesday and is currently in police custody.