Bengal: STF foils arms smuggling bid to Bangladesh, one held

Kolkata: The Special Task Force (STF) of the state police seized several firearms from a man in Gobardanga area which were meant to be smuggled to Bangladesh ahead of the upcoming elections there.

The accused was produced at the Additional Chief Judicial magistrate’s (ACJM) Court and has been remanded to police custody for seven days. According to STF officials, on Sunday, police were tipped off about a man carrying firearms through Gobardanga area in North 24-Parganas early on Monday morning. Accordingly, a plan was conceived and a strict vigil was in place in and around the Goipur Hospital from the wee hours of Monday. Between 4 am and 5 am, the police spotted the suspect riding a scooter, coming from Thakurnagar’s direction.

The suspect, identified as Jamal Mondal of Bongaon, was intercepted. During a search of his belongings, police found a nylon bag containing four semi-automatic pistols, eight empty magazines and ten rounds of 9mm ammunition wrapped in newspapers. He was taken to the Gobardanga Police Station. During preliminary interrogation, Jamal reportedly told the cops that he was to deliver the firearms and bullets along with the magazines to his clients in Bongaon, who would smuggle those to Bangladesh for use by the criminals in the upcoming election in Bangladesh.