Another AK 47 rifle seized in Munger, cop among three held

An AK-47 rifle, smuggled from the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) in Jabalpur four years ago has also been recovered along with 80 live and five empty cartridges

Patna: A Bihar police constable is among three men arrested in the state for their alleged involvement in smuggling of AK-47 assault rifles.

The arrested persons in police custody at Munger. H (HT Photo)

An AK-47 rifle, smuggled from the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) in Jabalpur four years ago has also been recovered along with 80 live and five empty cartridges from Taufir Diara in Muffasil police station area of Bihar’s Munger district on Friday.

Police officials said constable Dharmaveer Kumar, a resident of Khagaria district, was picked up from New Police Lines in Patna on Tuesday for interrogation. Kumar was detained after his name cropped up during interrogation of alleged arms smuggler, Mohammad Rizwan, arrested earlier, the officials said.

Kumar, who had unsuccessfully contested the Bihar Police Men’s Association election, told police that his cousin Bhadohi Yadav wanted to purchase an assault rifle for his personal purpose. He said Bhadohi, a contractor, requested one Gulo Yadav to contact someone in Munger’s Bardah village for arranging an AK-47 rifle.

Munger superintendent of police (SP) Babu Ram said Kumar also revealed that Gulo contacted Narad Yadav and Vedanand Yadav (both from Taufir), who facilitated his meeting with Rizwan. Later, Rizwan took them to Mohammad Shamsher and a deal was finalised for Rs 4.5 lakh. Narad and Ved assured Rizwan Rs 50,000 as commission, Ram said.

The SP said constable Kumar, Gulo, Narad and Vedanand were present at the house of Shamsher when the AK-47 rifle was purchased.

Narad and Vedanand had been arrested and raids were on to nab Bhadohi and Gulo, the SP added.

Twentyone AK-47 assault rifles and 500 spare parts of such weapons have been seized from different localities of Munger since August 29. Of them, 12 were recovered from a well at Mirzapur-Bardha village in Muffasil police station area of Munger. The police have registered six separate cases, one of which has been taken up for the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in view of its sensitivity and wider ramifications.

The central investigating agency has obtained a detailed list of some high profile people who have purchased illegal weapons from arms smugglers of Jabalpur and Munger.

Munger, of late, has emerged as the hub for trading of sophisticated weapons, mostly AK-47 assault rifles, smuggled from arms depots and locally manufactured. The Munger police had busted one such racket involving officers of Jabalpur’s Central Ordnance Depot with the local arms dealers. In all 20 persons have been arrested so far while hunt is on for some white collared people who have been allegedly patronising the illegal trade.