Ex-BSF man held for fake arms licence racket

GREATER NOIDA: A former Border Security Force constable and his accomplice have been arrested for running a fake arms licence racket in the city in tandem with an associate based in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to police, the two accused - the ex-BSF man, Dharmveer, and Suresh - used to procure the forged gun licences from Jammu and Kashmir and sell them to their customers here.Police said they have a record of 10 persons who had applied for the fake licences, and there could be more people involved.
The racket was discovered by chance during a routine security check at the Salarpur underpass in Dankaur on Tuesday afternoon. Abhishek Yadav, SP (rural), said the police team had stopped the two accused on a two-wheeler at the checkpoint and during a search, the cops found arms in their possession.
"They produced a licence for the gun. The licence was issued from Jammu and Kashmir. The officials, however, found the licence to be suspicious and took both of them to the police station for questioning," he said.
Yadav said the suspects have confessed during questioning that the licences were forged and told the cops that they had bought a .315-bore rifle, guns and cartridges using the fake licences. They used to sell the fake licences for Rs 55,000 each. One rifle, two guns and 21 live cartridges have been seized from their possession in addition to the fake licence.
Fifty-year-old Dharamveer, who lives in Bulandshahr, had joined the BSF in 1988 and had taken voluntary retirement in 1993 citing personal reasons. Police said he has named one Jugendra Mehra, whom he had met in Jammu and who had assured him of providing gun licences.
However, it is not yet clear how the forged licences were made or sourced. Police said they would contact their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir to seek their help in locating the kingpin of the racket.
The SP said that the duo had bought arms using the fake licences from a Bulandshahr-based arms dealer. Dharmveer had bought one .315-bore rifle while Suresh, who lives in Rampur village near Rabupura, had bought two 12-bore double barrel guns.
"We have seized the illegal arms from their possession. Our officials have summoned all those people who had applied for an arms licence through Dharmveer for questioning. We will investigate how many of them have got the fake licences and bought weapons using them," Yadav said.