Thursday, 10 August 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) in a joint operation with Udham Singh Nagar police busted an interstate arm smuggling gang that was making and smuggling weapons from a house in Bajpur for the past two years. The authorities arrested two gang members and recovered a large quantity of pistols, cartridges and equipment required to make weapons from the factory. This is one of the biggest haul of illegal arms recovered in the State, said the senior superintendent of police of STF, Ayush Agrawal. He said that the police investigation revealed that the gang used to smuggle arms in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
The authorities have recovered a big haul of weapons, unfinished weapons along with parts and machinery. The accused have also reportedly confessed to making big and dangerous weapons on demand and selling those to other states, said Agrawal. He said that the teams are gathering information about the buyers of such weapons and whether those were used in committing any crimes. He said that the factory of manufacturing weapons was operating in the house in Bajpur for over two years.
The STF finally arrested two arms dealers identified as Gucchan from Rampur and Shahid from Bijnor late on Tuesday near Dhela bridge in Bajpur. After getting the location of their factory in a preliminary inquiry, STF and police teams raided the house and recovered a large quantity of weapons. The SSP said that the STF has received important information regarding the smuggling of illegal weapons during the interrogation and will take further action accordingly. “It is possible that we will recover the biggest haul of illegal weapons than this one on the basis of the new information,” he said.
