512 arms seized in 2 years, Punjab cops grapple with smuggling from Madhya Pradesh

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, October 21

Illegal weapons manufacturing units in Madhya Pradesh have become a new headache for the Punjab Police. Robbers and gangsters have been found using weapons from such units.

As many as 512 weapons manufactured illegally in Madhya Pradesh have been seized in two years. These were smuggled into Punjab by organised gangs, some of which were busted also. The Punjab Police have taken up the matter strongly with the MP Police to curb the growing menace.

Earlier, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were notorious for illegal manufacturing of weapons. “Stringent check on the Bihar and UP units seemed to have shifted the demand to the MP units,” said an official. He added the fairly good quality of arms and ammunition also made the MP units popular among criminals.

The counter-intelligence unit of the state police is focusing on this menace. The unit found that a module of the Khalistan Liberation Front used these weapons in an attack on a right wing leader Rajiv Mahajan in Batala.

A jail inmate Rajiv Kaushal had even ordered the delivery of the weapons from the Sangrur jail. The Sangrur police got a timely alert about the consignment and more than 20 weapons were seized.

On August 5, the Ludhiana police arrested a teenaged ‘smuggler’ Raja with eight weapons. For Raja, manufacturing arms and ammunition was a family business. A month ago, his father Taqdeer Singh was also caught by the Khanna police when he was delivering a consignment of four pistols. Later four other accomplices of the father-son duo were also nabbed.

“The manufactures are into the business for generations. What make them popular now is the improved quality of the product and a kind of ‘home delivery’ of the weapons,” said an official.

Ther districts like Khargone, Burhanpur, Khandwa and Barhani are notorious for the trade. Recently, Harpal Singh of Signoor village in Khargone district and Kishore Singh Rathore of Balwari village in Bharwani were arrested and the police recovered 17 pistols and 35 magazines from them. These were meant for the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, Ravi Balachauria gang.

Many notorious smugglers, including Sartaj Singh, Kartar Singh, Vijay Thakur, Jeewan Dawar, Karandeep Singh, Anil Dewra, Nihang Singh, Sonu Singh, Bhore Lal and Kailash Mal Singh, were also arrested. “We are conducting regular correspondence with the Madhya Pradesh Police besides conducting local raids to check the meance,” said a senior official.

Most being supplied to gangsters

• 512 weapons manufactured illegally in Madhya Pradesh have been seized in the past two years
• Robbers and gangsters have been found using weapons from such units. These weapons are smuggled by organised gangs
• Earlier, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were notorious for illegal manufacturing of weapons