Gujarat ATS busts statewide firearms racket

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad on Friday busted a state-wide racket, in which foreign-made firearms were supplied on the basis of duplicate arms licences made using forged documents. ATS detained nine persons with 54 foreign and Indian-made firearms including revolvers, automatic pistols, double-barrelled shotguns and rifles. ATS also seized 44 live cartridges. Cumulatively, the seized items are worth Rs 80 lakh.
According to ATS sources, the accused confessed to buying the weapons from Tarun Gupta, the owner of Tarun Gun House, located at Ramdevnagar in Satellite.
DIG ATS Himanshu Shukla said the firearms were sold to buyers in Ahmedabad, Amreli, Wankaner, Chotila and Jamnagar. “We suspect that more such weapons were sold and are investigating the racket to its roots, to catch the masterminds. Some other firearm retailers are also on our radar,” added Shukla.
Shukla said Tarun Gupta is in judicial custody of a Kutch court, in connection with a case in which he had allegedly supplied a firearm used in the poaching of a peahen. “We will get him on a transfer warrant in this case,” added Shukla.
DSP Bhavesh Roziya of crime branch received a tip off that one Mustaq Baloch of Wankaner, who owns a stable and is fond of horses and often visits Kutch for horses, and one Wahidkhan Pathan of Gangad, have illegal pistols and revolvers with them.
“We then kept watch on them and detained them up on Friday near Iskcon Crossroads. We found a revolver with four live cartridges and a pistol with four cartridges on Baloch and a revolver with four cartridges in it on Pathan,” said in-charge SP of ATS, Deepan Bhadran.
“During their interrogation, it came to light that Tarun Gupta was supplying weapons to people in various districts of Gujarat. Based on the information we got from the two accused, we arrested seven more persons, Javedkhan Pathan, Imrankhan Pathan, Naeemkhan Pathan and Kacha Sandhi, all residents of Bavla; and Amir Mogal, Raju Yadav and Wasim Diwan of Wankaner. All of them have been sent for pre-arrest Covid-19 tests,” added Bhadran.