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Huge arms haul springs surprise on police
Three arms smugglers were arrested and 5000 live cartridges seized from them in Dipnagar area of Bihar's Nalanda district early today.
Three arms smugglers were arrested and 5,000 live cartridges seized from them in Dipnagar area of Bihar’s Nalanda district on Saturday. The recovery of the huge consignment of ammunition and a magazine of the prohibited Insas rifle from the three arms suppliers before Dussehra has left the state’s top police officers in a quandary.
The ammunition was concealed in cavities built in the vehicle’s doors and panels.
“I have asked the Nalanda Superintendent of Police to ascertain the links of the arrested arms suppliers with the criminal gangs. Instructions have also been issued to inquire from where the consignment was received and to whom it was to be delivered,” said Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Central range (Patna), J.S. Gangwar.
The DIG said the Insas rifle is a prohibited weapon and is supplied only to the police, paramilitary force and defence personnel. “Investigations are on to find out as to how the magazine of the prohibited weapon reached the arms suppliers of Nalanda,” he added.
Nalanda Superintendent of Police Vinit Vinayak told HT that acting on a tip off that a huge consignment of arms and ammunition was arriving at Nalanda separate police teams were engaged in checking vehicles at different points. All police stations in the district were put on alert in the wake of Dussehra, he said.
“Around 1 am, a police team signaled a Tata Spacio to stop near Rajgir More. The driver ignored the signal and managed to escape but was caught by another police team near Dipnagar,” the SP said.
The police seized around 3,000 live cartridges of .315 bore, 1,600 cartridges of 12 bore and 400 cartridges of .32 revolvers from the vehicle.
Police said that the seized ammunition bore the seal of Ordinance Factory at Kharki (Pune) and Kanpur.
“The seizure of a magazine of Insas rifle is a serious matter,” Vinayak said.
