Arms racket with feminine front busted

BANGALORE: The sleuths of the Special Enquiry Squad of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) burst an arms racket that sold pistols and revolvers to anti-social elements. Four persons, including a woman, have been arrested in this connection, from whom 19 pistols, five revolvers and 108 bullets worth about Rs 50 lakh were seized.The accused are Basha Saab Nadaf, 40, of Bijapur; Dilshad, 48, and Mohammad Arif, 30, of Uttar Pradesh; and Dhan Kaur, 30, of Madhya Pradesh.According to the police, the accused visited the city to sell weapons regularly. Based on a tip-off, Nadaf was arrested in Halasur Gate police station limits and on his information, Dishad and Arif were picked up from Chamarajapet. Later, the police learnt that they got the arms from Pappi of Uttar Pradesh and Gurujeet Singh Bheem Singh Barnala of Madhya Pradesh.A police team was sent to Madhya Pradesh to nab Barnala, who managed to give the slip; however, police arrested his wife Dhan Kaur. Eleven arms were recovered from her.“These persons are into illegal arms trade for many years in major cities of the country. In Karnataka, they have sold pistols and revolvers in various districts, including Bangalore. Though all the arms are countrymade, they are of high quality and sophisticated. They sold each pistol for about Rs 2 lakh and revolvers for about Rs 1.5 lakh,” the police added.“Barnala used to sell the arms through his wife Kaur. He took advantage of the fact that the police would not doubt women,” the police said. Nadaf is a rowdysheeter of Chadachana police station area in Bijapur and is facing two murder, eight dacoity, five cases under arms act and other cases in various police stations of Bijapur. He is also wanted for crimes in Sangli, Maharashtra.The police are on the lookout for Barnala, Pappi and Shivalingappa Bagali, the other accused, who are absconding.Kaur has been remanded in judicial custody while the other three are in police custody for interrogation.