Huge cache of illegal firearms recovered, three arrested from South 24 Parganas

Police arrested three persons on charges of running an illegal arms factory in South 24 Parganas Rabindra Nagar on Tuesday. This is the third such incident where police found illegal arms factory in the same place.

Acting on a tip-off, police and officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided a house, the occupant of which was identified as one Gautam Roy. Roy is a resident of Dakshin Bidhangarh, under the jurisdiction of Maheshtala police station.

The investigators found a huge cache of arms — 38 pistols, 38 magazines and other raw materials from the house. The investigation revealed that Roy took the house on rent and was paying Rs 1 lakh per month. After getting this information, the investigators suspected that it was

huge money-making business for Roy.

Like in the earlier incidents that took place in South 24 Parganas' Rabindra Nagar, the police got Munger links in this case too. The investigators found that Roy hired two gun-makers from Bihar's Munger – Mohammad Nazrul and Mohammad Sabir Ali. They were arrested along with Roy.

It will be recalled that police found two similar firearms factories in South 24 Parganas Rabindra Nagar in 2016. The factories looked like weapon stores and police found one gun, 9 mm and 7 mm pistols and gunpowder. One Samsher Ali, the owner of the factory was arrested. The investigators came to know that the factory was shut for some days as the workers there had gone to Munger.

In another case in 2016, police found an arms factory in Rabindra Nagar where crude bombs, splinters, country-made guns and gunpowder were seized. The owner of the house, Bapi Halder was arrested. Later, the accused confessed that he hired gun-makers from Munger to manufacture weapons.

Earlier in 2015, police arrested one Aftab Hossein from another place in South 24 Parganas, who was the kingpin of an illegal arms racket. The investigators learnt that Hossein was the owner of a 1,000 square feet accommodation where he used to run the arms factory. Mohammad Salim, Mohammad Aslam and Mohammad Jamal, the other three associates of Aftab Hossein were also arrested. The investigators also found that Aftab was a dealer of firearms in Kolkata.

However, in another case in Howrah, the police found arms factory at Tikiapara. Shekh Selim, a middle-aged man was arrested by the Howrah police a few days ago. Police interrogated the accused and came to know about the factory at Tikiapara. The investigators found 30 pistols and two drill machines from the spot.