Haryana STF seizes 25000 cartridges from two cars being smuggled to UP and Bihar, five arrested

A team of Haryana police special task force (STF) seized a consignment of 25000 live cartridges that was being smuggled to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and arrested five suspects from two cars near Rohad toll plaza on Bahadurgarh-Rohtak highway in Jhajjar on Tuesday.

The arrested suspects were Afifuddin alias Munna Khan, 49, Asim Rais, 33, Sablu Khan, 32, Arbaz Ali, 27 and Zeenat, 33. All five are residents of different localities in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun. Eight mobile phones and two cars were also seized from them, STF officials said.

Munna owns an ancestral Badaun Gun House in the Civil Lines area of Badaun and had procured the consignment from Vijay Goel, who runs Mehak Gun House in Sirsa, Haryana, which he has been running since 1999.

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STF said Vijay has also been arrested and was quizzed to ascertain his role in the interstate smuggling network, which is suspected to be running for the last three years.

STF officials said also said that this was the third biggest haul of smuggled ammunition consignment seized pan-India in the last 25 years.

Waseem Akram, superintendent of police, Haryana STF, said that 24400 cartridges of 7.65mm (.32 bore) used in regular small handguns and .315 bore used in rifles were seized from a Tata Harrier, while another batch of 600 cartridges (.315 bore) were seized from a Hyundai Aura.

“The 7.65mm cartridges are used in illegal country-made pistols manufactured in Bihar’s Munger, West Bengal and Eastern UP, while the rifle bore cartridges are used in breach-load illegal pistols manufactured in these areas for which the smuggling was taking place,” Akram said.

Akram said Munna was the kingpin of the smuggling racket running due to continuous cartridge stock pilferage from the gun houses in Haryana, UP and other places.

Shamsher Dahiya, deputy superintendent of police, STF, said the entire consignment was manufactured in an ammunition factory in Pune’s Khadki, as the marking ‘KF’ was engraved on all the cartridges. “The two cars were intercepted near a roadside eatery, Triveni Dhaba, which is located right opposite the toll plaza after we had received a tip-off from Bihar police STF,” he added.

The cartridges were to be smuggled to Badaun and then to Bihar from Sirsa, officials said, adding that the seizure was made following a tip-off from Bihar police STF about an interstate ammunition smuggling network.

STF officials said that the ammunition was being sold to illegal arms manufacturers and criminal gangs in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The operation followed the arrest of three suspects by Bihar police STF in Bhojpur district on Monday, where 19200 live cartridges were recovered. The arrested suspects, Saras Kumar and Laltu Kumar of Muzaffarpur and Chandan Tiwari of Siwan in Bihar, had disclosed their links with Munna.

During the investigation, police found that Laltu was in direct contact with Munna and had procured the ammunition from him, who was in further touch with Vijay in Sirsa.

Following the leads, Bihar STF alerted Haryana counterparts on Tuesday morning about two vehicles resulting in the seizure took place.

On complaint of a STF official, an FIR under sections 25(1-B)(a) and 25(8) of the Arms Act was registered at Asaudha police station in Jhajjar on Tuesday.

Akram said police teams from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are now jointly investigating the ammunition smuggling network, including the source of the cartridges, their intended destination and the purpose for which they were being transported. “Police are also examining the role of gun houses in the three states,” he added.