Friday, 26 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) in a joint operation with Udham Singh Nagar police arrested an interstate arms smuggler Ishtiyak alias Sonu late on Wednesday night. The arrested accused is allegedly involved in arms smuggling for nearly 15 years in Uttar Pradesh and adjoining states, said the senior superintendent of police, Ayush Agrawal. He said, “The STF had received a tip-off on Wednesday night that the accused Ishtyak was coming to the border of Uttarakhand with a large consignment of weapons. Considering this, STF contacted Udham Singh Nagar police and surrounded him in Bara area of the district. When the team tried to catch him, he started firing at them but he was finally nabbed by them.
We also recovered six illegal firearms along with four magazines, one live cartridge and two hollow cartridges.” He has told the STF during interrogation that he has been allegedly smuggling weapons since 2008 and has smuggled over 400 pistols and revolvers since then. According to him, he procured illegal arms from several cities of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and sold them to various cities of Uttarakhand, Haryana and Punjab among others with high profits, said SSP. He informed that the accused revealed that he used code words to talk about illegal arms and ammunition over the phone to ensure nobody suspect him of smuggling illegal arms. “They used to call pistols as cars and cartridges as capsules during conversations. He also said that they usually get a pistol for Rs 30,000 which they sell for at least Rs 40,000 to people of adjoining states of UP. Several cases are registered against him under the Arms Act in many states as well,” said Agrawal. He added that chief constables Mahendra Giri and Kishore Kumar played a crucial role in nabbing the accused. A case has been registered against him in the Pullbhatta police station of the district under section 3/25 Arms Act and 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Agrawal was also present in the Kumaon division for three days to personally monitor the operation, as per the officials.
