Couple held with pistols, bullets in Bengal

A man and his wife, suspected to be weapon smugglers, were arrested and locally-made pistols and ammunition seized from them on Tuesday from West Bengal's North 24- Parganas district, the BSF said.

The arrests and the seizure were made during a joint operation by the Border Security Force and West Bengal Police.

Acting on intelligence inputs, a joint team of the BSF and police accosted the couple at the Bangaon bus-stop in the district.

"On searching them, 10 locally-made firearms without trigger mechanism, 20 live rounds of 7.65 mm bullets along with 2 kg white chemical powder was seized from their position," said a BSF officer.

Abdul Rauf Mandal and his wife Rahima Mandal have admitted they were weapon couriers, the officer said.

They said they collected the arms consignment from Bihar's Jamalpur, and were to deliver it to another courier in Bangaon.

The couple have been handed over to police, who are on the lookout for other members of the racket.