Large arms, drugs haul near Ahmedabad

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, JULY 25. The CBI sleuths from Delhi and Gujarat, in a joint operation, have recovered sophisticated arms and ammunitions and drugs, together valued at over Rs. 7 crores. Four persons, believed to be agents of the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, have been arrested.

The seizures and arrests were made in a swift action by the CBI sleuths in disguise from a tempo in the Sarkhej locality, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The consignment was about to be shifted to another truck bearing the Maharashtra registration number for transportation to Mumbai.

The seizures included 25 Chinese-made pistols, 50 magazines and about 200 live cartridges, in all valued at over Rs. 1 crore, and more than 6 kg. of heroin valued at over Rs 6 crores in the international drug markets. They were hidden in truck tyres.

Fourteen CBI officials from Delhi had arrived in Ahmedabad on July 17 and, with a few select officials from the Gujarat CBI, mounted a vigil at strategic locations. On being informed that attempts would be made to shift the consignment to Mumbai before July 27 to be delivered to an underworld gang there, a few CBI sleuths dressed as local Bharwads and some others in Pathan dress kept a vigil at the Sarkhej crossroad on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Highway.

Noticing a tempo carrying truck tyres, the CBI sleuths stopped the vehicle and the two persons, Ayub Khan and Jirani Sheikh, were questioned. They revealed the location of the truck bearing the Maharashtra registration, parked about 1 km. away for shifting the consignment. The sleuths rushed to the spot and arrested two persons, Javed Khan and Abdul Karim Sheikh. All the four are said to have come to the city about 10 days ago and were staying in a hotel in Narol area.

An official said the pistols were brought to the city through the Rajasthan border from Pakistan. A telephone number in Karachi, which was being monitored by the CBI for some time, gave the first hint about the arrival of the consignment to the city.

It has been one of the largest seizures of arms from Ahmedabad since 1997 when arms valued at over Rs. 6 crores were seized from a house in the adjacent Vasna locality from where a Punjab terrorist, Lal Singh, was arrested.

Seizure at Howrah station

PTI reports from Calcutta:

The Railway Police seized a cache of arms and ammunition, including 16 firearms and several rounds of live cartridges, and arrested the carrier from Jamalpur Express at Howrah station today. The GRP platform inspection team apprehended 22-year-old Biru Mandal with the arms while he was loitering suspiciously on a platform minutes after the train pulled in, the Superintendent of Railway Police Headquarters, Mr. M.R. Saha, told PTI.

Mandal revealed during interrogation that he had been appointed by two other persons, who were following him closely, and the arms were to be delivered to another person waiting at the station, he said. The police, however, could not arrest the other three. The GRP is trying to trace the source and the destination of the arms, he added.

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