Rs 8 Crore arms,
drug haul
In
one of the major arms haul in the past one year, the narcotics cell
of Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi, and the state CBI on
Monday seized 25 pistols, 200 live cartridges, 50 magazines and six
kg heroin worth Rs 8 crores from Sarkhej Chokdi on the outskirts of
Ahmedabad. The arms and drug consignment was smuggled into India from
Pakistan, entered Gujarat from Rajasthan, and was headed for Mumbai.
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CBI officials, dressed
in traditional Rabari dress, take stock of the arms and heroin
haul
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The CBI laid the trap at
Sarkhej Chokdi, a "transit point," and seized the arms and heroin consignment.
The CBI also arrested four men - Javed Khan, Mohammed Ayub, Jerani and
Karim - in this connection. The consignment was neatly hidden in a truck
tyre.
A seven-member team of
the narcotic cell of CBI came to Ahmedabad on Thursday with the information
that a consignment will pass though the Sarkhej area. The state CBI
assisted them in keeping a close watch of the movements in the area.
On Monday evening, the plain-clothed CBI officials stationed themselves
in and around Sabar hotel at the Sarkhej Chokdi. The team halted a tempo,
carrying the consignment, and the search revealed the goods. The CBI
arrested two men in the tempo. The tempo and a DCM Toyota, which was
supposed to carry the consignment forward, were withheld by the investigating
agency.
Superintendent of police,
CBI, Rajnish Rai, dressed in a dark green Pathani, to camouflage his
identity, said, "The information was provided by the Delhi CBI and we
merely assisted them. We kept a close watch for four days and were finally
successful today."
SP B.K. Sharma from the
Delhi CBI said, "The sand particles on the consignment point at the
possibility that the consignment has passed through Rajasthan and ISI
is our primary suspect. However, it is too early to determine exact
route taken by the consignment."
The last major haul was
done in a joint operation by the Gujarat police and the Border Security
Force last year during the Kargil conflict when a consignment of 45
pistols and large amount of RDX was seized from the Kutch border.
