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.