Cops bust 12-member arms gang

HYDERABAD: In a major pre-election drive, the city police on Wednesday nabbed a 12-member inter-state gang supplying illegal arms and seized 13 weapons and 42 live rounds of ammunition from their possession.
Acting on the leads given by a person arrested earlier, the central zone team of the Task Force arrested P Rajasekhar Reddy, 22, Atmakur, Sarvesh, 18, Rahul Kumar , 19, Sanjay Bhardwaj, 22, Mohammed Zaffar, 22, Jahangir Khan, 20, Ferozabad in UP, M Bhanu Kiran, 31, Kukatpally, E Madhavaiah, 27, Anantapur, Mullah Abdul Rauf, 35, Dharmavaram , B Raju, 37, Kurnool, K Shiva Prasad Reddy, 28, Pulivendula , and B Vinod, Atmakur.
Two years ago, while doing his BSc in agricultural science at Raja Balwant Singh College of Agricultural Sciences, Bichpuri, Agra, Rajasekhar Reddy allegedly came into contact with illegal firearm traders of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh.
"He used to procure firearms from UP and sell it to anti-social elements in Andhra Pradesh," central zone Task Force inspector Maddipati Srinivasa Rao said.
According to commissioner of police B Prasada Rao, Task Force apprehended one Soolam Subbaiah on March 6 and seized a country made pistol from him.
"The information from this arrest led to the cracking of illegal arms trading network," Prasada Rao said.
According to the commissioner , Rajasekhar Reddy used to procure weapons from Sarvesh, Rahul Kumar, Sanjay, Zaffer and Jahangir Khan of Uttar Pradesh and sell them to factionists in the state for anywhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
According to police, in the similar manner, Rajasekhar Reddy had sold six weapons to Soolam Subbaiah, M Bhanu Kiran, Karna Shiva Prasada Reddy, Erla Madhavaiah, Bhangi Raju and Bonam Vinod.
"Among those who purchased the weapons was Shiva Prasada Reddy, an ex-serviceman and Madhavaiah, a dismissed constable of APSP II battalion," Prasada Rao said.
Following the tip off, police apprehended , Rajasekhar Reddy and the five accused (hailing from Ferozabad) at Transit Hotel in Secunderabad and seized six country-made firearms from them.
Other accused were arrested from different places on Tuesday and seven more weapons seized from them.
"The arrested were being questioned to find out the reasons for purchasing the weapons during election time," Prasada Rao said. The accused were handed over to the Begumpet police for further investigation and the case is under investigation.
The city police commissioner said that responding to the notification issued by the police regarding the surrender of licensed weapons during election time, about 60 per cent of the 4,500 licensed weapon holders in the city have surrendered the weapons.
"Counselling for the history sheeters and biding over process has also begun," Prasada Rao added.
The city police commisioner said that there are about 850 history-sheeters in the city limits.