In a major arms haul, the Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) apprehended 24 persons from different cities of the Saurashtra region and seized 54 illegal weapons that were allegedly sourced from Madhya Pradesh.
According to ATS officials, several teams conducted raids at various locations in Surendranagar, Rajkot and Morbi on Wednesday, after they received a tip that around 100 illegal countrymade semi-automatic pistols were sold in Saurashtra after they were sourced from Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
According to ATS officials, the racket was unearthed after two main accused — Devendra Boria alias Dendu from Sayla in Surendranagar and Champraj Khachar from Than in Surendranagar — were arrested with four countrymade pistols from Geeta Mandir ST bus stand on Tuesday.
“We received input that the accused Devendra who had jumped parole from Limbdi sub-jail in February this year in an attempt to murder case, was seen around Geeta Mandir ST Bus stand along with his accomplice Champraj. After a team apprehended the duo, we seized four pistols from them. During investigation, the accused revealed that they were going to Vadodara to sell the pistols to a person,” said Harsh Upadhyay, deputy superintendent of police, ATS Gujarat.
ATS officials said the two accused had procured 100 pistols from Dhar in the past four months and sold them to different clients in Surendranagar, Rajkot and Morbi.
“We received complete details of those who bought the weapons from the accused and four teams were made for raid. Within 24 hours, we managed to detain 22 persons and seized 50 more weapons taking the count of total seized weapons to 54,” added Upadhyay.
