Five semi-automatic firearms with 24 live bullets seized in Bhubaneswar, 2 held

Bhubaneswar: The Special Crime Unit of the Commissionerate Police conducted a successful operation resulting in the recovery of a significant cache of illegal weapons and live ammunitions.

Acting on credible intelligence, the unit executed a coordinated raid on three different locations such as Hansapal on NH-16, Sarkantara and Tamando on dt 26.3.24 from 2 PM till 8 PM seizing one 9 mm pistol, four numbers of 7.65 mm bore pistols along with 24 rounds of live ammunitions from the possession of the accused persons.

The Organized wing of the Special Crime Unit, led by K K Hariprasad ACP, along with Inspector Santosh Ku Behera, Insp Soumya Ranjan Biswal, SI Tapan Ku Swain and the dedicated team, acting on intelligence in coordination, conducted a targeted operation resulting in the seizure of five numbers of semi-automatic pistols and 24 rounds of live ammunition.

It is to be noted here that Bablu alias Subrat Khuntia is the main accused in procuring the arms and circulating them inside the city illegally and is also wanted in the brown sugar case of SCU PS Case No 4/24 and is absconding. Three weapons have been recovered from the house of Bablu Khuntia and one each from the two accused persons apprehended by the team.

The arrested persons are identified as Suraj Parida (25) of Sarakantra in Khurda’s Khandagiri, a  Diploma Engineer in Electrical, and Tapudhara Nayak (31) of Keshpur in Balasore’s Soro.

One 9 mm bore semi-automatic pistol, four 7.65 mm bore semi-automatic pistols, four rounds of 9 mm live ammunition, 20 rounds of 7.65 mm live ammunition, one TVS Apache motorcycle and one mobile phone were seized from them, the police said.

The accused persons will be produced in the local court today. The unit will pray for their custodial interrogation for the collection of further evidence and to unearth the entire network of illicit firearms inside the city. The procurement of these arms is suspected to have been linked with Munger of Bihar and the Unit is working on information in this regard, the Commissionerate Police said.

The Commissionerate Police also urged the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities or information related to illegal firearms.