Ramavadesh Singh in Guwahati on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Sept. 22: A resident of Dhanbad in Jharkhand was arrested here today with three 9mm pistols, which he was allegedly carrying in the Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express bound for Patna in Bihar.

Ram Avadesh Singh, 46, boarded the Rajdhani Express at Dimapur in Nagaland and was arrested at Guwahati railway station based on specific tip-off from the Government Railway Police (GRP).

The police found two Austria-made pistols, one Czech Republic-made pistol and six magazines but no ammunition. GRP officials suspect that Singh had collected the arms from Dimapur-based arms smugglers, who supply arms for criminal groups in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The officials suspect that the pistols, each costing around Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, were meant for supply to gangs in Bihar.

The seizure has once again brought to the fore how Dimapur railway station continues to be used by smugglers to transport illegal arms from the Northeast to other parts of the country. This is the fourth such seizure of illegal arms since February.

“We had seized arms on February 3, March 23 and May 9 this year and all those arrested had disclosed that they had collected the arms from Dimapur. All of them had boarded long-distance trains that reach Dimapur at night. We have also seized drugs while being smuggled out in a similar fashion,” a GRP official said.

GRP officials said poor security arrangements at Dimapur railway station continues to help smugglers. “There should be more frisking of passengers and luggage at Dimapur railway station to check arms smuggling,” one of them said.