Kolkata, Feb 9 (PTI) Kolkata Police arrested a man from Bihar and seized six firearms and 11 rounds of ammunition from his possession following a tip-off about illegal arms being smuggled into West Bengal, an officer said on Monday.
The arrest was made on Sunday night after police received specific intelligence inputs that firearms and ammunition were being transported from Bihar and Jharkhand to West Bengal.
Based on the information, police activated their source network in Kolkata as well as in Bihar to track the movement of suspected carriers, the officer said.
“After verifying the input through multiple sources, we identified one person from Gaya who was suspected to be carrying illegal arms,” the officer said.
The suspect was placed under surveillance with the help of human intelligence and technical support, police said.
According to information, the suspect travelled to Kolkata from Gaya by an overnight bus.
Acting on further inputs about his likely movement within the city, a team from the Anti Rowdy Squad (ARS) and Detective Department (DD) conducted checks on small vehicles, including taxis and auto-rickshaws, on the Rashbehari Connector under the jurisdiction of Kasba police station.
“We had information about his expected route but not the exact time or the vehicle he would use. It was known that he would travel either by an auto or a yellow taxi,” the officer said.
After prolonged checking, police intercepted an auto-rickshaw around 1 pm coming from the Gariahat area towards the Eastern Bypass and detained the suspect, identified as Mohammad Isteyak (38), a resident of Baida village under Gurua police station in Bihar’s Gaya district.
During a thorough search, police recovered three single-shot firearms, two six-chambered revolvers and one 7 mm pistol, along with 11 rounds of cartridges, from his possession, the officer said.
“All the firearms and ammunition were seized and the accused has been taken into custody for further interrogation,” the officer added.
Police were investigating the source of the weapons and the intended destination to ascertain whether the seizure is linked to a larger arms smuggling network. PTI SCH MNB
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