On Thursday (November 17), the Hyderabad Police task force team busted a fake arms licence racket and arrested 7 people.
To prepare the fake arms licences and obtain real weapons, the accused persons used fake seals of license-issuing officials and forged signatures.
The west zone task force apprehended the gang and charged it for allegedly cheating, forgery, making counterfeit seals, criminal conspiracy, and illegal possession of arms, according to police.
30 single-bore weapons, three double-bore weapons, one revolver, 140 rounds of ammunition, 34 fake weapon licence documents, 29 unused weapons licence books, nine licences affixed with a phoney stamp, six rubber stamps, and one unsigned NOC were seized by police.
Seven men have been arrested by Commissioner’s task force team for allegedly running a fake arms license racket. The perpetrators used fake seals of license issuing officials & forged the signatures to prepare the fake arms licenses and procured real…https://t.co/gANax9pqOh pic.twitter.com/8xwHsG6iW0
— Hyderabad City Police (@hydcitypolice) November 17, 2022
Hyderabad City Police Commissioner CV Anand in an official release informed that a resident of Kashmir’s Rajouri, Altaf Husain is the mastermind of the racket. He moved to the city in 2013 in search of work and joined Grace Management Security Service. He was later assigned as a gunman in the SIS cash service in West Marredpally. Prior to his employment in the city, he purchased a double-bore gun in Rajouri with a fake arms licence obtained by bribing the local magistrate office.”
Altaf, who was familiar with the process and license details, collaborated with a stamp vendor named Haeefuddin in Secunderabad and began issuing fake licenses, these fake licences were then used to procure arms.
“He entrapped unemployed youth from Jammu and Kashmir, who were working as security guards for private security firms. He obtained weapons from other states via youth for Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000,” Commissioner Anand detailed.
The Hyderabad police further informed that the accused collected Rs 20,000 from unemployed youths and later placed them in private security agencies.
According to the police, three such firms hired security guards who were in possession of illegal weapons and deployed them to their clientele, which included VVIPs, jewellery showrooms, agencies hired to carry ATM cash, and personal guards.
“Police have the authority to issue and renew arms licenses.” Issuing fake arms licences is against the law and poses a serious threat to public safety. Private security firms must follow the Private Security Agency Regulation Act (PSARA), which governs the operation of private security agencies.
Taking to Twitter to inform about the case, Commissioner C V Anand tweeted, “HCP’s taskforce team busted a fake arms licence racket. The prime accused colluded with some private security firms and prepared fake documents and procured real firearms through the gullible youth belonging to J&K who were lured on the promise of placement as security guards.”
In another tweet, the Commissioner wrote, “Shockingly the private security firms flouted all norms and deployed the gullible youth to their clientele as armed guards along with the illicit firearms which is a serious threat to our safety & security. Arrested 7 men & seized a cache of arms, ammunition, fake documents.”
Shockingly the private security firms flouted all norms and deployed the gullible youth to their clientele as armed guards along with the illicit fire arms which is a serious threat to our safety & security.
— C.V.ANAND, IPS (@CPHydCity) November 17, 2022
Arrested 7 men & seized cache of arms, ammunition,fake documents pic.twitter.com/nrO9Y68IWZ
The Hyderabad police chief also stated that a meeting would be held with all private security agencies to encourage them to voluntarily disclose the weapons in their possession.
