NEW DELHI, February 23: In a major haul, police seized 41 revolvers and pistols with Pakistani markings in Rohini area of north west Delhi, which were meant to be distributed in Uttar Pradesh for disrupting the elections there, Delhi Police Commissioner T R Kakkar said today.``We have information that the weapons were to be sent to Uttar Pradesh for being used in elections. The delivery was to take place in Rohini,'' he said.
Two people have been arrested in this connection and a massive search is on for a third suspect, believed to be a Pakistani national. The seized weapons include 30 pistols of point 30 and point 32 calibre and 11 revolvers of point 32 calibre and 16 spare magazines and seven cartridges.
Kakkar said that although the weapons bore Pakistani markings, it appeared that the arms came from some other country as the Pakistani markings seemed superimposed. ``I have my doubts about the markings,'' he added.
When asked if this was a case of simple arms smuggling or whether Pakistan's InterServices Intelligence (ISI) was suspected to be involved, Kakkar said, ``It is not a case of simple smuggling. Pakistan has not stopped sending arms into India.'' He, however, said that no link could be established between the arms seizure and the recent blasts in the capital.
Giving details of the seizure, the police commissioner said that acting on a tip-off, two people, one Islam and Ashok Kumar, were intercepted while they were taking the arms consignment on a motor cycle.
During interrogations, they revealed that the weapons were sent by one Tariq, a known Pakistani smuggler, at the behest of the ISI. They also disclosed that the ISI was pressurising Pakistani smugglers to send consignments of drugs into India along with weapons.
Kakkar said Islam, a resident of Shamli in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, had been involved in gun running for the last several years and had been arrested by the Delhi police in 1996. He had met the other accused, Ashok Kumar, in jail and had persuaded Ashok tohelp him in the illicit trafficking of small arms. Islam had visited Pakistan three times where he came into contact with two people, Amjad Syed and Rizwan. They had sent him to Delhi and asked him to contact one Bobby to organise the delivery of the weapons.
Later, Ashok had taken a house on rent in sector three Rohini, from where the group operated. They struck a deal with Bobby, who delivered the arms consignment.
Kakkar said that Bobby was a Pakistani national and search was on for him. Police parties have also been sent to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to apprehend other associates of Islam.
Meanwhile, in Coimbatore, a box containing eight kg of gelatine bomb, kept hidden in a water tank behind a bush near the railway gate on the Ukkadam by-pass road, was safely removed to Madukkarai for defusal.
On February 15, police had intercepted a suspicious looking youth and during the course of interrogations, he disclosed that he had kept a bomb inside a blue colour school bag. He had thrown it into theValankulam tank near the railway gate on the Ukkadam by-pass road, he confessed.
Today, police bomb squad led by inspector Nagarajan, along with sub-inspector Ravindran and Vijayakumar fished out the bomb from the tank, which was covered with bushes.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
