Police bust arms smuggling ring, arrest 4 suspects

BENGALURU: Officers of the Central Crime Branch on Friday busted an interstate weapons smuggling nexus. A team arrested four suspects who were involved in the ring, which involved selling country-made firearms to gangsters and rowdies here. Five country-made pistols, two rifles and 19 live ammunition were recovered, a senior police officer said.

According to the officials, the prime accused Ayazulla (30), a resident of Kalasipalya, was sourcing weapons from his contacts in Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, Amritsar in Punjab, and Shirdi in Maharashtra, having them delivered on trains and buses. 

Based on a tip-off that Ayazulla was waiting near a hotel in Cottonpet to deliver weapons to some buyers, a police team led by Inspector Hazaresh Killedar swung into action, catching him before he could make the delivery.

During interrogation, Ayazulla revealed information about other accused, identified as Syed Siraj (42) of RT Nagar, Mohammed Ali (32) of Hegde Nagar, and Arun Kumar (26) of Rajanakunte. Their houses were raided, and arms that were purchased by them from Ayazulla were recovered.