Two from Bihar held with arms cache in West Burdwan

KOLKATA: The Bengal STF on Monday arrested two Bihar residents — Ranjit Sharma (24) alias Chhotu of Basarha and Baliram Ravani (37) alias Prasad of Bhojpur — from Rupnarayanpur near Salanpur in West Burdwan for illegally carrying a huge number of firearms and ammunitions, including prohibited bore arms.
The police sources said the weapons had come to Bengal from Bhagalpur and Munger. “We had inputs that weapons of different makes were entering the state. We intervened on the Bihar road close to the inter-state border,” said a senior officer.
According to sources, the seizures include two pieces of 9mm machine carbine along with three magazines, two pieces of 7mm pistols, three pieces of 9mm pistols, five pieces of one shoters, 15 rounds of 9mm ammunitions, 10 rounds of 7.65 ammunitions and 10 rounds of 3.15 ammunitions.
Sources claim that mounting police pressure has forced illegal arms manufacturers to shift base to Sahebganj and Dumka districts in Jharkhand from Bihar’s Mu-nger. However, they added that Munger continued to be a hub for assembling work, given its connectivity to oth-er places and the strong network of buyers, sellers and traders with links in other districts, especially those in the east, including in Bengal. “Therefore, things might be made in Dumka or Bhagalpur but final sale happens in Munger,” said a source.