Bhagalpur, Jan. 28: A 38-year-old woman, identified as Sahana Begum, was arrested in the ladies’ compartment of 13072 Down Jamalpur-Howrah Super Fast Express at Bhagalpur railway station with a cache of arms and ammunitions.
Government Railway Police (GRP) officers said Sahana was carrying the consignment to the Maoists on behalf of the arms mafia. A five-point 2.2 automatic pistol, 10 magazines, 24 live cartridges and a carbine were recovered from her.
A GRP source said the sophisticated arms had probably been manufactured in Munger and had “Made in China” and “Made in Italy” engraved on them.
“We had information that a woman wearing a black shawl was travelling with arms and ammunition for the Maoists,” said Sashi Bhusan Choudhary, the officer-in-charge of Bhagalpur station GRP.
A senior GRP officer from Jamalpur had informed them about Sahana. The GRP team raided the ladies’ compartment and took Sahana into custody at 9pm on Wednesday.
Sahana, who was travelling with two children, had resisted arrest when the security personnel apprehended her. GRP constable Nirmala Devi also found a black bag in Sahana’s possession, from which the cache of arms was recovered. A touch-screen mobile and a second-class railway ticket from Bariarpur to Barhowrah were also recovered.
Sahana revealed during interrogation that she had been given the arms by an unidentified person at Bariarpur station, who had promised her a handsome reward for delivering the consignment to another person at Barhowrah, in Sahebganj district in Jharkhand.
She also said the man who had given the cache of arms was travelling in a different compartment of the same train.
He, however, managed to escape the GRP net.
Sahana, a resident of Abuganj village under Sultanganj police station in Bhagalpur, said she had taken to delivering bags to diff- erent destinations after the death of her husband Mohammed Ajim, around two months ago.
A GRP source said the police suspected Ajim also had criminal antecedents.
“We suspect Sahana is an active member of the banned outfit. She was given the assignment to collect the arms from Munger and deliver them to Naxalite-hit Sahebganj district in Jharkhand,” said Choudhary.
Despite strict policing, manufacture of illegal arms continued to flourish in Munger, said a senior GRP officer from Jamalpur on the condition of anonymity.
“Maoists have become the most important consumers of illegal arms from Munger,” said the officer.
Choudhary added: “We arrested a man a couple of months ago with a cache of arms. But this arrest is more serious.”
Security personnel on the stretch of Kiul-Jamalpur-Barhowrah on the Kiul-Sahebganj loop section of Eastern Railways have been alerted to be on the look out for suspicious passengers, especially in the ladies’ compartments of trains.