Illegal arms units in Jhajjar, Jind give headache to cops
Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, July 10
With the unearthing of two illegal arms manufacturing units in Jhajjar and Jind by the special task force (STF) in Sonepat, both districts have emerged as a new source of illegal weapons in Haryana after Uttar Pradesh, causing a big headache to the state police.
This is following the arrest of four persons, two each in Jhajjar and Jind districts, by the STF. It was revealed in the investigation that the accused were not new in this business. They belong to the blacksmith community and knew perfectly how to shape iron. Their forefathers were also involved in the activity of making illegal firearms for the past more than 40 years, said STF DIG B Satheesh Balan while talking to The Tribune over phone.
He said their previous generations were also arrested several times for indulging in this activity.
In preliminary investigation, it also came to fore that all accused took two to three hours in manufacturing a countrymade weapon, while five to six days in making a sophisticated weapon, said Satish Deswal, in charge, STF.
They used to keep changing their place of manufacturing units to avoid arrest. The investigation further revealed that the manufacturing cost of a countrymade weapon was between Rs 150 and 200, which they sold for up to Rs 10,000, while they sold a sophisticated weapon for up to Rs 2 lakh.
Deswal said that in 2015, he had busted three illegal factories of the accused.
The police have produced the accused in court and got them on remand as cops have yet to find out their modus operandi.
“We have produced Vinod, alias Khema, a resident of Behrana village in Jhajjar district, and Deepak of Hamidpur in Delhi, who were arrested from a house at Vikas Nagar in Jind yesterday, in a Jind court and took them on a five-day police remand,” he added.
The other accused, identified as Dilbag and Sunil, residents of Behrana village in Jhajjar district, who were arrested from Jhajjar district, were produced in Jhajjar court from where they were taken on a three-day police remand.
One of the accomplices of Jhajjar accused, Sonu, is at large and efforts were being made to nab him.
The STF had seized a large stock of arms and ammunition, including five pistols of .315 bore, two pistols of .32 bore, two revolvers of .32 bore, six half manufactured pistols of .315 bore, one double-barrel gun, six cartridges of .315 bore, five cartridges of .32 bore, four cartridges of .12 bore and six empty shells of .315 bore, and grinding machines, hammer, hacksaw etc and other material generally used in arms manufacturing.
