Kolkata Police STF bust arms racket, arrests one

Kolkata: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police busted an arms racket and arrested an arms racketeer from Baithakkhana area in Sealdah on Saturday night.

Police also recovered several firearms along with enough ammunition during the raid. The arrested man, Israil Khan, was produced at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (CMM) court on Sunday and remanded to police custody till November 20. According to STF officials, acting on a tip off, cops were conducting a strict vigil on the Baithakkhana Road near the Surendranath College. The suspect was spotted carrying a bag. He was surrounded by police and his bag was searched. Police found three single shot firearms, two 7 mm semi automatic pistols, 50 rounds of 8MM bullet and 40 rounds of 7.65mm bullet which were seized accordingly. During the initial probe, police learnt that the arms and the bullets were brought from Munger in Bihar and sold to Khan. He used to stay in Rajabazar area in Kolkata. Police learnt that Khan is a resident of Ketariwar area in Jharkhand originally. He is being grilled to find out whether he had plans to take the arms and bullets to Jharkhand or distribute it somewhere in Kolkata or Bengal before the by-elections.

Vigilance has been stepped up in the bus terminuses and Railway stations. Earlier, the Kolkata Police STF had helped the Bihar Police bust an arms factory in Bhagalpur. Kolkata Police got a tip-off about the factory running at Amdanda area in Bhagalpur district and shared the information with their Bihar counterpart. Meanwhile, a man, Abdul Rashid of Baishnabnagar was arrested on Saturday night by the New

Farakka railway police. On October 27, another man Tausib Ali was arrested from the New Farakka Railway Station with two firearms. During the probe, police learnt that Rashid is the mastermind.