Gun-running racket with links to U.P. unearthed

The police have stepped up investigations to trackdown two gun dealers from Uttar Pradesh after their brother was arrested for allegedly selling country-made pistols in the city on July 6. The gun rac

The police have stepped up investigations to trackdown two gun dealers from Uttar Pradesh after their brother was arrested for allegedly selling country-made pistols in the city on July 6. The gun racket was unearthed by the Central Crime Branch police, who acting on a tip-off, arrested Ayazulla, 30, from U.P. at a tea stall on TCM Royan Road, just half a kilometre away from the police station. The police recovered a country-made pistol wrapped in a khaki bag from him. “When questioned, the accused claimed that the gun racket was run by his brothers, Nayazlla and Fayazulla, and he was just a courier. He claimed that he had been instructed to hand over the weapon to some customers, who would call him, and collect ₹40,000 from them. He was set to return to his home town the same day,” said a police officer. The CCB officials recovered a mobile phone from him along with cash ₹2,600 and handed him over to the Cottonpet police for further investigations. “This is not the first time Ayazulla has come to the city to deliver the weapon,” said a CCB official. Three days after the arrest, the West division police launched a massive manhunt for the people who were supposed to buy the weapon. The CCB is also probing the U.P. link to the case.