Guwahati, May 17: The Kamrup (metro) district administration has barred two licensed gun shops in the city from selling arms and ammunition following allegations of irregularities committed by them in contravention of the Arms Act, 1959.

An official source told The Telegraph today that the district administration had directed the two shops — Rajdhani Gun House and North Eastern Arms Company — in the Kamarpatty area of the city to stop sale of arms and ammunitions with immediate effect till clearance from the home department.

The shops can, however, sell products like air guns, which do not need licences.

According to the source, the district administration has passed the order after police investigation found that the two shops had allegedly sold arms and ammunition to the fake licence holders in exchange for a hefty sum of money, without proper scrutiny of the licences and antecedents of the licence holders.

“The district administration has taken this action since the allegation against the two shops were of serious nature and if these allegations were proved to be true then further action like cancellation of their licences for violating the provisions of the Arms Act and posing a threat to public safety would be taken,” he said.

The source said the CID during investigation of a case had found that several armed private security guards and criminals had allegedly procured firearms and ammunitions from the two shops using fake arms licences they had procured from Kangpokpi in Manipur and Dimapur in Nagaland.

“These two shops were suspected to have sold several single and double-barrelled guns and ammunition against fake licences,” he said.

The CID has also found that there is an inter-state racket, which is providing the fake licences to residents of Assam from places like Kangpokpi sub-division in Senapati district of Manipur and Dimapur in Nagaland.

“During the investigation, it was found that 41 arms licences with all-India validity but incomplete addresses were allegedly issued by the additional district magistrate of Kangpokpi sub-division, Lumni Thang Haokip, to residents of Assam,” he said.

“There must be some foul play or else, why will a resident of Assam go all the way to Kangpokpi or Dimapur to get an arms licence instead of applying in his home state?” he asked.

The source said during investigation of another case registered at Panbazar police station, it was found that Rajdhani Gun House had allegedly imported huge quantity of lead shots and supplied the same to various locations without having a licence to import them.

The alleged clandestine sale of arms and ammunitions by the two shops in the heart of the city has also exposed the loopholes in the existing system for monitoring licensed gun shops and the urgent need to plug these loopholes. The common owner of these two shops, however, could not be contacted.