Bihar, Jharkhand joint STF team nabs ex-BSF jawan, recovers over 900 cartridges

A joint team of Bihar and Jharkhand Special Task Force arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan and recovered 919 live cartridges of Insas, SLR and 9mm pistol from him on Wednesday, officials said

A joint team of Bihar and Jharkhand Special Task Force arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan and recovered 919 live cartridges of Insas, SLR and 9mm pistol from him on Wednesday, officials said. The STF personnel arrested the retired jawan-cum-arms smuggler identified as Arun Kumar Singh from Shahpur village under Sonpur police station of Saran district.

Image for representation. (File photo)

During questioning, the accused failed to respond to the queries of the police, officials said. The STF took the accused under arrest formally after producing him at the Sonpur police station. Further investigation into the matter will be conducted. The accused has not revealed the purpose behind storing the live cartridges, said the police, adding that he is giving vague answers to most of the questions.

According to a senior STF official, a thorough probe is underway to ascertain whether the accused has any links with the banned extremist outfit CPI (Maoist) or gangster. “We cannot rule out anything till we are thorough in our investigation,” said the official.

Earlier on Tuesday, a CRPF jawan of 182 battalion, Avinash Kumar alias Chunnu Sharma, a resident of Gaya district in Bihar and currently posted at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir was arrested with two of his accomplices by an ATS team of Jharkhand and recovered 250 live cartridges of Insas rifle.