Military Intelligence, Pune Police bust illegal arms racket

Pune, Nov 17: In a joint operation, Southern Command Military Intelligence unit, Pune and Maharashtra Police have busted a racket involving 9 men from Jammu and Kashmir who allegedly used forged firearm licenses and carried illegal firearms to get jobs as armed security guards in various banks and security agencies in Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar), Pune and surrounding areas.

According to a press statement issued by Ahilyanagar Police, a search and combing operation was carried out across Ahilyanagar, Shrigonda, Sonai, and Pune, leading to the arrest of nine men who are residents of the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

During the operation, the police seized nine 12-bore rifles, fake arms licenses, and 58 live cartridges from the accused, who had been working as security guards since 2015, said the police.

Following the seizure of illegal firearms and live cartridges, an FIR was registered at the Tofkhana police station on Friday, under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged documents), 474 (possession of forged documents), 34 (common intention), and provisions of the Arms Act, sections 3, 7, 8, and 25 to investigate it further.

The police also confirmed that prima facie, the case does not appear to have any terror angle and said that it appears that the accused committed the forgery to bag high-paying jobs as armed security guards at banks and cash transport vehicles. However, an investigation is underway to look for the sources of the firearm and the whole racket, said the police.

The arrested accused have been identified as Shabbir Mohammad Gujjar (38) Mohammad Salim alias Saleem Gul (32), Mohammad Safraz (24) from Kotiyan, Jahangir Zakir (28), Shahbaz Ahmed (33), Surjeet Singh, Abdul Rashid Chidiya (38), Tuefel Gazia and Sher Ahmed Ghulam Hassan.

The officials of Military intelligence also confirmed that the verification from the district officials from Rajouri has been done and they confirmed that the seized arms licences were not officially issued by them and were forged.

Police further confirmed that the investigation has revealed that Sher Ahmed Ghulam Hassan, a resident of Kalakot, Rajouri, was the main facilitator for the acquisition of fake licenses and 12-bore rifles for Rs 50,000 each, further investigation is on.