Times of India: Mumbai: Monday, May 20, 2013.
The police
nabbed 271 men and seized from them 294 illegal firearms and 1,682 live
cartridges from January 2012 to January 2013, an RTI reply shows. The arrested
men were couriers who came to Mumbai to deliver weapons to gangsters.
The weapons
ranged from sophisticated pistols to country-made revolvers, shows the reply to
the RTI plea, which was filed by activist Chetan Kothari. The seizures show
that gangland demand for firearms of Indian make has increased. The maximum
number of arrests of the period was in January 2013; at 67, it was almost three
times more than the next highest figure. The highest seizure of
cartridges—607—was in April 2012. The January 2013 figure was 504.
A senior
police officer said the weapons had no fixed price. "The price depends on
demand and supply. Country-made pistols can be available for as little as
Rs5,000. Branded, smuggled pistols, on the other hand, can command prices far
above Rs1 lakh."
The increase
in rifle seizures had nothing to do with gangland. "This was because of
strict norms of screening the gun licences of guards employed by private
security agencies in the city," said another police officer. "Several
rifles were found wrapped and dumped in garbage bins after strict action was
taken against security agencies and guards. It was found that the agencies
hardly registered their guards' weapons with the city commissionerate."
Joint
commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy said the police were also keeping
tabs on those who made illegal weapons. "Besides that, we are keeping a
close watch on people who source out weapon parts to facilitate the racket. The
recent arrest of an elderly Dadar resident involved in supplying firearm parts
to a UP-based racketeer has made the police especially alert."
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