UP STF to compile database of interstate arms smugglers

ALLAHABAD: Unauthorised firearms are making their way into various districts of UP from Madhya Pradesh . Of the 70-odd illegal guns confiscated by the Special Task Force ( STF ) of UP Police from Allahabad, Aligarh and Lucknow in the past month and a half, most were smuggled in from Khandwa , MP.


The most recent crackdown by the Allahabad unit of STF led to the arrest of a key weapons supplier, Bhimshankar Pathak, from Katara area of Jhunsi on Saturday.

The consignment included seven .32-bore pistols and 14 magazines.

Additional SP (STF) Neeraj Pandey said the task force was compiling a database of people involved in the illegal arms trade. “It will include names, addresses, numbers and details of modus operandi. The database will be shared with MP police for effective action against the network of racketeers,” Pandey said. The ASP added that they were also looking at the possible role of migrated families in the illegal arms trade.

Bhimshankar, arrested by a joint team of STF and Jhunsi police, has reportedly confessed that he was bringing the consignment from Badwani town of Khandwa district, and has been in the trade for the past five years. He told the STF that he was earlier only a carrier for one Rajendra of Jhunsi, but later started making his own deals for better profits.

The smuggler bought the most basic pistol for Rs 9,000-10,000 apiece and sold the arms in UP at double the price. In 2017, he had been arrested by STF with five .32-bore pistols and eight magazines.

In 2016, too, the STF had seized a huge cache of illegal firearms — from kattas (countrymade guns) to 9mm pistols — from a group of smugglers who had brought these from Khandwa, as well as Munger in Bihar.

UP Police files reveal that illegal weapons outnumber legal ones by eight to 10 times and more than 70% crimes are committed using unlicensed firearms.

“Smuggling in illegal arms is a profitable business. The prospect of a fast buck is luring more and more youths. Most criminals want to procure a factory-made pistol, which they refer to as ‘English gun’. The demand for 9mm pistols and .38-bore revolvers has increased in recent times,” said an STF officer.