PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE /Dehradun
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested Mohammed Asim with illegal arms including four semi-automatic pistols, one illegal double-barrel rifle and 40 live cartridges late on Friday night. He was arrested from Bazpur in Udham Singh Nagar district where he and his brother run a shop named Naqsh Gun House. Officials said that one of the seized weapons—a double–barrel rifle—was manufactured in an ordnance factory. The STF is investigating how Asim obtained this weapon and from where it was sourced.
According to the STF, his gun house was raided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2023 for supplying weapons to gangsters. The STF senior superintendent of police Navneet Singh Bhullar said that Asim was involved in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak case in Punjab. He had supplied more than 100 cartridges to the accused in that case, which were used during the jailbreak. He has the supplier of Bamea gang who is rival of Lawrence Bishnoi gang. “He had spent six and a half years in Patiala jail because of this case” he said.
Bhullar said that the STF had been receiving information for several days about arms smuggling from Bazpur. After one month of secret surveillance, the STF Kumaon unit received a tip-off on Friday night that a major arms supplier was coming to Rudrapur. “The STF and Rudrapur police set up a trap near the flyover on Kashipur Road and arrested Asim with the weapons. He was bringing the arms from Bazpur to sell in Rudrapur, he added.
STF deputy superintendent of police Rishi Chamoli said that Asim has been selling illegal weapons for nearly 10 years and has built a wide network. The investigation has revealed that many weapons have been supplied to different States. The STF is now trying to trace the entire chain of buyers and suppliers.
The police have recovered four semi-automatic pistols, one double-barrel rifle, 30 cartridges of 12-bore, 10 cartridges of 32-bore and a motorcycle from him.
