Some of the pistols seized from gun-runner Rafique Mistry on Bentinck Street on Wednesday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Police spotlight on Wednesday was fixed on central Calcutta, where a gun-runner was arrested and an armed gang robbed jewellery from a shop.

Rafique Mistry, the arms dealer, had been on the wanted list for months and finally fell into the sleuths’ trap on Bentinck Street on Wednesday evening.

Nine pistols and six rounds of ammunition, all said to have been made in the US, were seized from him.

The pistols—seven 7.62 bore and two .9 mm bore — were kept in a nylon bag along with the cartridges.

“We were stunned to see the US-made ammunition. The gun-runners arrested earlier used to trade in India-made ammunition,” said an officer of the detective department.

Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of police (detective department), said his officers had laid a trap for the 30-year-old resident of Joynagar following a tip-off by the Military Intelligence.

Posing as customers, the sleuths had been on Mistry’s trail for the past four months. The first trap was laid in Taratala in January 2007, but Mistry did not turn up.

“He did the same when the second trap was laid in Alipore in March. But this time, he did turn up,” said an officer.

In Entally’s Munshibazar, five armed men raided a jewellery shop and decamped with gold rings worth Rs 24,000 after hitting the owner on his forehead with a revolver butt.

Witnesses said the robbers, brandishing revolvers, had come in a blue Tata Sumo.

“The shop-owner, Manoj Prasad, was taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital,” said P.K Dam, the officer-in-charge of Entally police station.

Local resident and witness Gunjan Gupta said the robbers had come around 1.15 pm. “The man at the wheel did not move, while the rest got off and stormed Lakhibhai Jewellers. All were clad in trousers and shirts.”

Apart from two employees, there was a customer in the shop.

There are over 10 jewellery shops in the area and local residents said the area had witnessed three dacoities over the past year.