9 Kashmiris held in Maharashtra; rifles, fake licences seized

Nine Kashmiris were arrested in a joint operation of Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar) police in Maharashtra and Military Intelligence, Sothern Command and nine rifles as well as 58 live cartridges were allegedly seized from them, an official said on Sunday.

The probe began after reliable information was received about some persons hailing from Jammu and Kashmir taking up jobs as security guards in cities in Maharashtra and carrying weapons with fake licences, the official said.

As part of the investigation, letters were sent to authorities in J&K to check the authenticity of these weapon licences and raids were carried out after confirmation was received about these not being genuine, he added.

Raids led to nine persons being arrested in Ahilyanagar with nine 12-bore rifles and 58 bullets, the official said. They hail from Rajouri in Jammu. He identified them as Shabbir Mohammad Iqbal Hussain Gujjar (38), Mohammad Saleem alias Salem Gul Mohammad (32), Mohammad Safraj Nazir Hussain (24), Jehangir Zakir Hussain (28), Shahbaz Ahmed Nazir Hussain (33), Surjit Rameshchandra Singh, Abdul Rashid Chidia (38), Tufel Ahmed Mohammed Gazia and Sher Ahmed Ghulam Hussain.

“Sher Ahmed Ghulam Hussain is the main facilitator of the racket and took Rs 50,000 each to provide 12-bore rifles and their fake licences to ensure the accused got jobs as security guards. These persons were working as security guards in Shrigonda in Ahilyanagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pune, etc,” the official said.

A case was registered at Tofkhana police station under Arms Act and further probe into the racket is underway, he added.