Illegal arms racket busted, 10 held

CUTTACK: In a major breakthrough, commissionerate of police on Wednesday busted an illegal gun peddling racket and arrested 10 persons. Four 7.65 mm pistols, 18 rounds of ammunitions and four magazines were seized from their possession.
Police arrested Prasant Behera and Sujit Nayak, both natives of Jagatsinghpur district, who used to procure guns from Munger in Bihar and supply them to criminals in the twin cities.On the basis of information provided by these two arms dealers, eight persons were nabbed. Two among the eight sold guns.
"The duo used to sell guns for Rs 35,000 each to miscreants here. They had supplied 10 guns to different persons in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and other parts of the state. We are trying to nab all those who procured guns from them and trace the roots of the illegal gun trade," said commissioner of police R P Sharma.
Two months ago, police had launched an operation, Trishul, against illegal arms trade after they got vital clues about thriving illegal gun rackets in the twin cities. "The operation will be intensified in the coming days," said Sharma.
A police team would be sent to Munger to gather more information about the racket, said DCP (Cuttack) Sanjeev Arora. "We are trying to ascertain whether any other gun peddling racket is active in Cuttack," the DCP added.
In July, police busted a gang, dealing in illegal supply of guns, at Mahanadi Vihar here. In the last one year, over 70 illegal guns have been seized in the twin cities (30 in Cuttack and 40 in Bhubaneswar).
Police also foiled loot bids at Choudwar and Jagatpur and arrested five persons. A country-made pistol and sharp weapons were seized from the accused.