Ahead of the assembly polls, UP police have busted yet another illegal weapon-making unit in Muzaffarnagar. A cache of illegal weapons has been recovered by police in a surprise raid in Kotwali in Muzaffarnagar district on Friday 21st January 2022. The arms were to be supplied to three states during the upcoming assembly elections. Police have arrested three accused from the spot, while some other members of the gang managed to flee from the spot.
The police also recovered more than 131 completed and semi-finished weapons. Along with this, equipment for making weapons has also been recovered.
Since the imposition of the code of conduct, the Muzaffarnagar police have busted 10 illegal arms manufacturing factories and recovered about 154 illegal weapons in about a month. Out of these, 131 illegal weapons have been recovered by the police from the same factory on Friday. These weapons include guns, rifles, pistols, muskets, quarters, revolvers, and a large number of cartridges.
On Friday, on the information of an informer, the Nagar Kotwali police raided the factory of making illegal weapons. The factory was set up in a garden located in Badkali village of Muzaffarnagar. During the raid, the police arrested three accused named Rajesh Kumar, Sarfaraz, and Shahid, who were making weapons at the spot. The police recovered more than 131 finished and semi-finished weapons as well as a large quantity of weapon-making equipment from the site. Police said that there are more than half a dozen charges against the accused in serious sections like murder, gangster, etc.
Senior superintendent of police Abhishek Yadav said, “Due to upcoming elections in various states including Uttar Pradesh, they were preparing country-made weapons to sell them. A special team, to arrest all rest of the members of this gang, has been formed and police are also tracking their contracts as well”.
Several illegal weapons-making units have been busted by police in recent weeks in various regions in the state including Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli, etc. Demand for illegal weapons skyrocket during elections, and therefore such ‘handicraft’ units come up to cater to such demand.
Earlier this month, an illegal arms manufacturing unit was busted in Muzaffarnagar. That unit used to operate from a dilapidated building near a canal bridge under Shahpur police station of Muzaffarnagar district. In this case, police had arrested a person identified as Noor Mohammad. During interrogation, he had revealed that the illegal arms were being manufactured to be used in the approaching assembly elections in the state. In another similar raid, Muzaffarnagar police had seized a cache of weapons and ammunition from the factory in Tandera village under Kakroli police station. It is notable that Muzaffarnagar is undergoing polls in the first phase of the assembly elections.
