Illegal weapon racket busted, 20 guns seized, 5 held

Surat: The Surat crime branch busted an illegal weapon and fake licence racket, seizing 20 guns and arresting five individuals. The racket was busted after police raided Surat-based Gajanan Gun House. Police also seized 93 live cartridges. Gajanan Gun House has till now supplied 51 illegal weapons based on bogus licences issued from Nagaland and Manipur. Those arrested were: Atul Patel, Dilip Roy, Kalpesh Mangukiya, Merubhai Bela and Vaibhav Jasoliya. While Patel is the owner of Gajanan Gun House, the other four are those in whose names fake licences were issued. Police commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut said on Wednesday, "We succeeded in seizing 20 guns, most of which are .32 bore revolvers and double-barrel guns. We arrested five people with guns and 93 cartridges, while another 16 wanted accused will be nabbed soon."Patel and his Haryana-based aide, Asif, conspired in the racket as they got illegal licences from Nagaland and Manipur for those seeking to buy weapons. "For every licence, Asif and Patel charged Rs 10 lakh, which was sent through angadia to Delhi and Nagaland," said the police chief. During the raid, police found 16 weapons with their fake licences, as they were kept there to be sent to Nagaland for entry. The 16 licences and weapons belonged to people from Anand, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, and other cities of Gujarat.According to police, out of 20 weapons and licences seized, there are six such cases in which the accused did not go to Nagaland even once and but got their licences. Most of the licences have illegal entries of people from Gujarat in the old licences possessed by elderly people from Nagaland. The crime branch has sent teams to various cities in Gujarat to nab 16 people whose licences were seized from Gajanan Gun House.