Firearms seized, 5 arrested

Kolkata: A huge amount of cartridges and firearms have been recovered from three different parts of the state on Thursday night. Five persons, including some arms dealers, have been arrested so far.

Police are conducting a detailed probe to ascertain if the firearms were being used during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections campaigns. However, senior police officers have not ruling out the possibility.

The police busted two arms rackets from the Malda and South 24-Parganas districts while the other was unearthed at Maidan.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of police officers raided the border areas of Kaliachak in Malda on Thursday night. They recovered two firearms and 213 round of cartridges from the house of Sikhim Seikh. The police arrested Seikh, who is suspected to be an arm dealer. During preliminary investigation, the police came to know that he has some connections with others arm dealers operating from the state. The police are interrogating the accused to know where they were trying to smuggle the firearms.

In the other incident, Kolkata police arrested two miscreants —Afsar Ali and Rajesh Mallick— from Maidan police station area on late Thursday night. Police have seized an improvised firearm and some bullets from their possession. According to the primary investigation, the police officers suspect that both are notorious criminals.

The investigating officers are conducting a probe to ascertain why they had assembled in Maidan. Kolkata Police has been very vigilant since the notification of the elections and conducting raids at various places to seize illegal firearms and ammunition.

The third incident occurred at Bakultala police station area in South 24-Parganas when a team of police officers raided a house at Priya More and seized four firearms and seven rounds of bullets.

Two persons, identified as Halim Khan and Luis Sardar, have been arrested. Police suspect that the duo has been involved in smuggling arms. The police are trying to know why the arms and ammunition were stored there.

Meanwhile, Income Tax department has seized a huge amount of unaccounted cash from the city. IT officials are keeping an eye on the market of Burrabazar and Metiabruz. It may be mentioned here that the Special Task Force of the city police have seized narcotics worth Rs 40 lakh and arrested one person in this connection.