Interestingly, the state intelligence unit has found that miscreants used government establishments as safe haven for stacking their illegal arms.

The CID came to know this after its officials seized illegal firearms from a BSNL telephone exchange in Tiljala on January 5 followed by a similar recovery of arms cache from the water treatment plant of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) at Palta four days later.

At present, the CID is conducting several raids in different parts of the state, and till date 53 illegal guns and forged licences have been unearthed from various government establishments. Five people have been arrested.

The latest being Thursday’s raid in Asansol when a team of CID officers seized 36 guns with fake licences from a government office of coalmines. “A big racket is operating in the state. Apart from arms, we have seized several fake licenses of ex-army men and ex-BSF personnel,” said Raj Kanojia Additional Director General, CID.

At several government premises, the gunmen of security agencies were found carrying illegal arms.

“The private security agency officials are moving freely with illegal arms. This is an alarming condition,” Kanojia added.

The CID has recovered more than 50 licences, which were forged from different parts of the country, including Kashmir, Bhagalpur and Munger in Bihar, and Kohima in Nagaland.

“This business has been going on for a long time and the government offices have become the store houses for these illegal arms. We have reports that the arms have been passed on to several militant groups, including Maoists, operating in Bengal,” said a senior CID officer.

“We are investigating it. But at present, we are concentrating on seizure of illegal arms,” the officer added.

According to Soumen Mitro, IG (II), CID, the racket is involved in procuring arms from several dealers in Kolkata and getting their licences forged from various places. “We are trying to find where the arms are going,” Mitro added.

On Wednesday, the CID raided the office of Durgapur Projects Limited (DPL) and seized five arms with forged licences. A guard emplyed with Brite, a private security agency, Parameswar Chowdhury was arrested.“The arms were sold to the guards by some former army men. The ex-army men are from Bangalore, Behrampore, Nadia and Birbhum,” said a senior CID officer. In connection with the BSNL raids, four persons have been arrested. Golam Ambia Sheikh, Sheikh Jahangir, Bapi Sheikh and Abdul Hossain Sheikh were hired as security guards by Inter State Security Agency and deployed at the BSNL exchange, a few months ago.

The CID, however, has not made any arrest in connection with the arms seized from the Palta water treatment plant.

“We have started keeping a close eye on a few private security agencies that are operating in the state,” said a senior CID officer.

“As of now, we have zeroed in on around 40 agencies who are involved in the racket. The licences are forged in such a manner that the security-in-charge of the government offices cannot judge whether the arms are legal or illegal. This is the most difficult part. Since the security agencies have the licences to have arms it is not always check whether the arms are legal or not,” added the officer.

According to the records available with the Kolkata police, around 62 private security agencies are currently registered in the city.