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Sophisticated underworld armoury keep police on their toes

Sophisticated underworld armoury keep police on their toes

Author: Somit Sen
Publications: The Times of India
Date: March 16, 2001

The city police has a new reason to worry these days. The fact that despite recovering over 1,500 firearms from gangsters in the last five years, the underworld is still equipped with several sophisticated firearms is giving the police sleepless nights. Among the sophisticated weapons in the armoury of the underworld are AK-47 assault rifles and Glock pistols.

A police officer revealed that while the Dawood gang was armed with AK-47s and Glock pistols, his arch rival Chhota Rajan had distributed several carbines among his henchmen. Karachi-based gangster Chhota Shakeel reportedly smuggles sophisticated weapons from Pakistan to Kathmandu. The weapons are then carried to India through the Indo-Nepalese border. Besides, there are reports of Shakeel being involved in arms trafficking across the Rajasthan border. ``Some of these weapons are very expensive and not available with the Mumbai police,'' an officer revealed.

During a recent encounter in which Chhota Rajan aide Ramesh Surve, alias Ramya Butler, was killed, the police recovered a .32 bore Armonius, a sophisticated German-make pistol. They also seized a Webley Scott revolver from the gangster. A couple of days after the encounter, the crime branch recovered a 9 mm Glock pistol and a 9 mm Bulgarian-make Colt pistol from another Rajan-aide on Sion-Trombay Road in Chembur. A Glock pistol costs a whopping Rs 2.5 lakh.

According to city police commissioner M.N. Singh, the underworld has been in possession of such weapons for a long time. ``Glock pistols were recovered from the Amar Naik gang in 1994. During that time, we also recovered several carbines and German automatic weapons. A huge consignment of 9 mm pistols had arrived in Mumbai during the serial blasts of 1993. The underworld has been using the same pistols till date. It was around the same time that the underworld also procured several AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons.'' He added that the police were constantly on the lookout for such gangsters and their weapons. Informing that the underworld had been smuggling weapons into the city from outside the state, the police chief added that gangsters were using the air route to smuggle in firearms.

Talking of the plight of the police, a senior officer, seeking anonymity, said, ``We cannot check every person entering the city by rail or road. It is only after the police receive a tip-off that the weapons are seized.''

Unlike a few years ago, in recent times the police has been seizing sophisticated firearms mainly during encounters. ``We have to tap our network of informers and conduct raids in areas where underworld gangsters pile up their arms and ammunitions,'' a crime branch inspector said. In 1998, the department had conducted such raids and recovered a huge haul of weapons, including 13 AK-56 assault rifles, 110 hand grenades of Pakistani-make and 47 pistols.

Mr Singh stated that a drive was on to seize as many weapons as possible. According to police statistics, this year the department has arrested 105 alleged criminals for possessing illegal firearms and recovered 82 weapons from them. Among the weapons seized are nine foreign revolvers and eight imported pistols. The seizures have steadily gone up over the years. In 2000, the police recovered three AKs, 33 foreign-make pistols and 51 foreign-make revolvers.

As an incentive, the department offers a reward of Rs 15,000 for every foreign-manufactured pistol or revolver and Rs 25,000 for every stengun or AK rifle seized by policemen during encounters or raids. Weapons seized by the police are either given to VIPs through a quota system or are kept in possession of the court.
 


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