‘Over 60 AK-47s supplied from Jabalpur to Maoists in state’

PATNA: More than 60 AK-47 assault rifles and several other weapons have been smuggled for Maoists and criminals in Bihar from the Central Ordnance Depot at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in the last several years.
It was revealed during the investigation after three AK-47 assault rifles with spares were seized from Jubli Well locality under the Jamalpur police station area in Munger on August 29 night.One Mohammad Imran Alam (42) of Wardha village under the Mufassil police station area in Munger was arrested with the consignment.
The investigation led to recovery of three more AK-47s from Wardha on Thursday night by the Special Task Force (STF) of Bihar police, which was roped in to assist the district police in arresting the arms smugglers. One Mohammad Shamsher (45) was also arrested from Wardha.
Police of both the states are coordinating with each other in the investigation. While a team of Jabalpur police had reached Munger after recovery of the first consignment, a Munger police team went to Jabalpur after that.
IG (operation) Kundan Krishnan said Shamsher was hiding at Wardha with three more AK-47s. “He was nabbed after retired Army personnel Purushottam Rajak was arrested by Jabalpur police,” Krishnan said, adding that Jabalpur zonal IG AK Singh was coordinating with the Bihar police in the case.
“Imran told the police that Purushottam from Jabalpur had reached Munger by train and delivered him the consignment. The details were shared with the Jabalpur counterparts leading to Purushottam’s arrest,” Krishnan said.
“Purushottam spilled the beans that he had actually smuggled six AK-47 rifles by train from the ordnance depot to Munger. The CCTV footage of Katni junction showed him boarding a train with two bags. One bag with three rifles was delivered to Imran while another with three more was handed over to Shamsher,” Krishnan said.
He also said Purushottam told the Jabalpur police that he had smuggled more than 60 AK-47s and other weapons from the depot to Bihar during the last several years in connivance with some other people working there.
“These weapons were sold to Maoists and criminals in Bihar according to demand,” Krishnan said and added that STF was gathering more information about the arms smuggling. “This is a big case and it is for the first time that direct links of depot officials with arms smuggling in Bihar has come to light,” he said.