Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti Terrorism Squad has arrested nine persons and seized 54 firearms and 44 live cartridges from various districts in the state, official sources informed on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, the ATS arrested Mushtaq Baloch, resident of Morbi, and Wahidkhan Pathan from Bavla in Ahmedabad, and seized a loaded pistol and four live cartridges from them on Friday, official sources said.
Their questioning revealed that a gun dealer in Ahmedabad was illegally supplying arms to known criminals in the state, the ATS said in a statement.
"Raids conducted by ATS teams in various parts of the state led to arrests and seizures. Gun dealer Tarun Gupta was arrested and questioned, which led investigators to others who had made the illegal purchase of weapons from him," it added.
The ATS said raids were carried out in Kutch, Amreli, Vankaner, Virpur, Ahmedabad and Jamnagar, among other places.
In all, nine people were held and foreign-made revolvers, pistols, Mauser pistol as well as rifles made by Indian ordnance factories were recovered.
"As many as 54 illegal arms and 44 live cartridges were recovered, which are estimated to cost Rs 80 lakh. Out of these, 15 weapons are foreign-made and 38 made in India. Arms seized in the raids include a Mauser pistol, .35 automatic pocket pistols, 9 mm Colt pistols, Mark IV revolvers, single barrel gun, etc," it said.
The accused were booked under the Arms Act and further probe was on, the ATS added.
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