Dilip Kumar

Bhubaneswar: In a major breakthrough, a Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested two inter-state gun smugglers while they were cracking a deal with some buyers to sell the illegal arms on the outskirts of Bhadrak town.

One of the arrested peddlers identified as Rabindra Prasad belongs to Monger of Bihar while another Biswanath Bisoi is a resident of Srikrushnapur in Balasore district of Odisha.

The duo has been forwarded to court, STF SP Prasant Bhoi said.
“Two persons have been arrested on charges of illegal possession of fire arms and magazines. Seven 9-mm automatic pistols, 7 rounds of ammunitions and magazines have been confiscated from them,” Bhoi added.

The STF is planning to move court seeking remand of the accused to elicit more information from them during interrogation.

They used to smuggle the fire arms from Bihar and sell them out to criminals in Odisha, reports said.

Police launched an investigation to find out whether the arms were manufactured in Bihar or in Odisha. Involvement of others in the illegal gun trade is being investigated, police said.

Earlier on April 9, the STF had arrested two smugglers from Niali in Cuttack district and seized eight illegal firearms including two sophisticated guns from their possession.

A total of 22 fire arms, 54 rounds of live ammunition have been seized and 7 criminals arrested during crackdown on illegal arms smuggling racket in the past one year by the STF.

scrollToTop