One more arrested in West Bengal arms smuggling case

Kolkata: The special task force (STF) unit of Kolkata Police has apprehended a man from Paschim Burdwan district for his alleged involvement in the arms smuggling racket, which was busted here recently with the arrest of two Rifle Factory Ishapore (RFI) officials among others, an officer said today.

Ganesh Paswan alias Bhagwani ji, a resident of Gazipur in Bihar, was taken into custody by the STF sleuths yesterday evening from Barakar area of the district, he said.

With yesterday's arrest, eight people, including two RFI officials, had been apprehended by the Kolkata Police since May 7 for their alleged involvement in smuggling arms to Maoists, the officer said.

Last Sunday, the sleuths had nabbed Rajesh Kumar alias Munna, a resident of Ramchadrapur in Bihar's Nalanda district, in connection with the case.

Kumar's name had cropped up during a grilling session of the other accused.

A preliminary investigation has revealed that the arms were smuggled out of rifle factory with the help of its two employees, the officer said.

"The racket, probably active since 2008, was supplying arms and ammunition to Maoists in Bihar. The sleuths are also trying to find out if they had supplied arms to insurgent groups in Nepal," he added.

Incidentally, the STF unit had in September last year arrested another junior works manager of the factory on the charge of illegally selling parts of SLRs and Insas rifles to arms manufacturers.