5 arms suppliers linked to Mukhtar gang arrested

Varanasi: Azamgarh police on Friday night arrested five arms smugglers from Mahuari village of the district. However, four of their accomplices managed to escape in a SUV after opening fire on the cops.
The cops recovered 24 live cartridges of AK-47 from the arrested persons. SP Azamgarh Sudhir Kumar Singh said the arms and ammunition suppliers were connected with jailed mafia don and MLA Mukhtar Ansari and other criminal gangs, including that of slain don Prem Prakash alias Munna Bajrangi.
Singh said, “Acting on a tip-off an arms deal at a tubewell in Mahuari village under the limits of Tarva police station, a team of police raided the place. On seeing police some miscreants opened fire. While four of them fled the scene after boarding a SUV, five were caught.” The arrested arms smugglers were identified as Arun Singh alias Sintu, Hariom Singh, Anjani Singh, Anand Singh and Navin Singh. Their accomplices who managed to escape were identified as Manish Rai, Chhotu Singh, Anup Singh and Vivek Singh. Apart from 24 live cartridges of AK-47 riffles, a country-made revolver, a SUV and two motorcycles were recovered from them.
During interrogation they confessed to their involvement in supplying arms to criminal gangs of east UP region. Singh said they divulged that the cartridges of AK-47 were given to them by one Chhotu, who was sharp-shooter of Bajrangi in past.
Azamgarh cops nabbed the arms suppliers at a time when jailed Mukhtar is already facing heat as his economic empire and armoury is being targetted by the police for the past last three months.