M A I N   N E W S

11 pistols seized from Samjhauta passengers
PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 6
Customs officials at Attari today confiscated 11 Pakistan-made pistols and 22 magazines from six Samjhauta Express passengers, including two women. The accused belong to riot-hit Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference at the Attari railway station late in the evening, Deputy Commissioner (Customs) Gurdev Singh said the accused are Indian nationals who had gone to Lahore to meet their relatives on February 13. They were identified as Razia Begum, Riaz Ahmad, Shehnaz Begum, Anees Ahmad, Naseer and Arif.

The arms were hidden in a special cavity within juicer-like machines which too were 11 in number. While Shehnaz and Anees are a married couple, the rest are their relatives.

The Samjhauta Express, by which these passengers came, reached the Attari station at 1.15 pm while the seizure was made in the evening. All the six accused were bound for Delhi from where they were to board another train to Muzaffarnagar. According to sources in the Custom Department, the officials got suspicious when these juicer-like machines passed through the scanners which showed some objectionable things at the base of these machines.

The Custom officials then called some experts who cut the lower base where the officials found arms and magazines. Each machine contained a pistol and two magazines.