Arms seizure: Accused made weapons himself

Thane: The Thane crime branch investigating the seizure of 20 country-made pistols and machine gun, have sent it to the forensic lab for further testing but have claimed that all of them are dud and indecorous for firing bullets or rounds.The police said that the arrested accused, Surjit Singh alias Maza Avsingh Barnala, 27, a resident of Umarti village in Badwani had himself made the weapons at home.The police had seized 20 country-made steel pistols, one country-made machine gun, two magazines and 280 live cartridges from the accused.Senior inspector Vikas Ghodke said, “As a procedure we have sent the weapons to the forensic lab for further testing and its reports are awaited.”The officer however added that though the pistols look fine from the outside and are identical to the original, but their mechanism is improper due to local manufacturing with simple tools that are available in local market without following any standard procedure.“It is most likely that the bullets could either rupture in the pistol itself or can also misfire and trigger accidents. The make of the original firearms is at par from the local make and strict parameters are followed in the manufacturing of the original,” the officer told TOI.The officer said while carrying out a house search of Barnala, they had recovered different metal instruments including cutter, screwdriver, hammers, drill machine and welding machine from his possession. These were used in the manufacturing of the arms, said Shivraj Patil, DCP crime.“The selling cost of one pistol is around Rs 40,000. It also depends on the capacity of buyer,” the officer said.The police added that the village Umarti is infamous for manufacturing illegal weapons. “As there are many local manufacturing units in the village, they emboss their own mark like star, moon or triangle or any other symbol which is the signature of the manufacturer on particular firearms,” said Ghodke.Cops said Barnala has been sent to judicial custody. Soon a chargesheet will be filed against him.