Arms, ammunition, and two cell phones that were seized by police in Cuttack on Monday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug. 22: Two gunrunners were today arrested and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized from them. The gunrunners have been identified as Bapu Bhuyan, 22, and Ravi Sahu, 23, of Jobra and Yunuspatna areas of the city.

Six firearms, including four automatic pistols and two single-shot short pistols, besides 101 rounds of live ammunition, two 9mm empty magazines, two mobile phones and a motorcycle, have been recovered from the duo.

This is perhaps the biggest arms haul that has been seized in Cuttack city this year.

“We had specific inputs that Babu Bhuyan was on his way to strike an arms deal at College Square. At 7.30am, we conducted a raid and Bhuyan was nabbed along with the firearms,” said deputy commissioner of police Praveen Kumar.

Based on information revealed by Bhuyan, Ravi Sahu was arrested along with two 9mm automatic pistols, three rounds of ammunition and two 9mm empty magazines.

Though the duo has no criminal antecedents, the police suspect that they were probably running a firearms racket and were supplying arms to various gangs in the city. The police are now probing to find out clues such as from where the accused persons had procured the weapons and to whom it would have been delivered.

Sources in the police said more than 10 firearms, including Mauzers and country-made guns, had been seized from anti-socials in the last three months in the city. This has allegedly raised questions on ‘easy availability’ of firearms here.

A senior police officer said most of the firearms found here were being smuggled from Munger in Bihar. Besides, many illegal firearms manufacturing units have mushroomed in some parts of the state.

Though the police have seized a lot of firearms in the recent past, a complete check on illegal smuggling of weapons has not, however, been possible. Keeping in view the upcoming festive season, the seizure of the firearms is said to be a major breakthrough for the city police.

“The police are alert to the situation and are keeping a close watch on illegal firearms trade in the city,” said Kumar.

Earlier, three gunrunners, including a woman, were arrested from a city hotel and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized. The trio, Rajesh Chodhry, 27, Rajdip Ranjan Poddar, 42, and Meena Devi, 24, were arms dealers from Munger. They were arrested on October 20, 2008.

Nine single-shot pistols, four sophisticated Mauzers and four revolvers were seized from their possession.