Five firearms, 11 rounds of ammunition seized, one arrested

Berhampur: Police today claimed to have busted an arms syndicate, operating in the town with the arrest of one of its members, recovering five firearms and 11 rounds of ammunition from him.

The firearms, including three revolvers and 11 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Ashok Kumar Sahu of Routpeta Sahi, Aska Road in the town during the raid in his house, said SP (Berhampur) Sarthak Sarangi.

Besides the firearms, cash around Rs 5.35 lakh was also seized from Sahu's house, the SP said.

"We are trying to arrest other members of the racket and to recover more number of firearms," Sarangi said, adding that, during the investigation, the police found that the arms syndicate was being funded by the gambling dens and liquor traders in the town.

"They procure these firearms from Kolkata and Munger in Bihar and sell in the town," the SP stated. While the cost of one revolver was in between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, the price of a pistol was around Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000.

The accused, Sahu (37) was a gambler and he also provided the money to the gamblers at the gambling point with high interest.