The Commissionerate police claimed to have busted a major illegal firearms racket in Cuttack by seizing 11 country-made guns and 51 live rounds of ammunitions on Wednesday.
Four conduits involved in the gunrunning syndicate were arrested, said Commissioner of Police (CP) Soumendra Priyadarshi. The arrests and arms seizure were made by a special squad of the police led by Cuttack DCP Pratik Singh. Those arrested were identified as Tukuna Swain, Santosh Rout, Jyoti Ranjan and Prasant Rout. Tukuna Swain, who is the kingpin of the racket, used to procure the illegal arms from Munger in Bihar, the CP said at a Press meet. Swain used to be a major supplier of guns to notorious gangster siblings D-brothers who are currently behind the bars, he said.
“A total of 18 cases are pending against Tukuna Swain, who is currently on remand, at various police stations in Angul and Jagatsinghpur districts. Five cases are pending against Santosh Rout in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, five cases against Jyoti Ranjan alias Lipu, nine against Prasant Rout are also pending” he informed. A special drive against organised crime syndicates has been expedited under the direct supervision of DCP Pratik Singh, Priyadarshi said. As many as 43 illegal arms along with 225 rounds of ammunitions have been seized in the Cuttack urban police jurisdiction in the last three months, the CP said.
“The crackdown on use of illegal arms is highly required to prevent organised crimes and the Commissionerate police have successfully curbed the supply and manufacturing of illegal arms,” Priyadarshi claimed.
The special drive against illegal country-made guns has yielded fruit as organised crimes have decreased considerably due to the continuous crackdown against firearm smuggling, he pointed out.