Bihar STF arrests arms smugglers; 1000 cartridges, firearms recovered

The recovery is significant because cartridges can’t be manufactured locally and are always stolen or smuggled.

Sleuths of Bihar’s special task force (STF) on Thursday arrested three notorious arms smugglers at Rajgir in Nalanda district and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from them, officials said.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the Arms Act and would be sent to jail on Friday. (REUTERS)

The STF recovered 1000 cartridges of 315 bore, two country-made pistols of 7.65mm, two magazines, two motorcycles, four cell phones and ₹3.70 lakh. This huge recovery is significant because cartridges can’t be manufactured locally and are always stolen or smuggled.

The arrested were identified as Anil Singh, a resident of Daudnagar in Aurangabad; Prabhat Kumar Singh (Nawada) and Bijay Kumar Singh (Rajgir). The accused have been booked under various sections of the Arms Act and would be sent to jail on Friday.

Additional director general (Operations) SM Khopde said that interrogation is going on to know if these ammunition were being procured in view of ongoing panchayat election in Bihar or not. “The three arrested persons confessed that they used to supply arms and ammunition to criminals in Nalanda, Nawada, Patna and Jehanabad districts,” Khopde added.

Police said that the kingpin of the racket, Anil Singh, procured ammunition from a Jharkhand supplier and was going to deliver it to conduits in Nalanda, Nawada, Sheikhpura and Patna. Acting on a tip-off, the STF nabbed Anil Singh at Rajgir when he reached to deliver the ammunition consignment.

During the interrogation, he revealed about Prabhat and Bijay. Police later raided their places and recovered firearms and magazines from their possession.

The police are now looking for the person who was to deliver the consignment to Anil. The STF claimed that they have already identified the person and their teams were conducting raids in Jharkhand to nab him.

During the interrogation, they disclosed that they are part of an illegal cartridges supply syndicate. They further disclosed that they used to receive a supply of cartridges from Jharkhand illegally and further supply the same to criminals and gangsters.

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