Thane cops arrest 2 from Maha's Amravati, seize 10 pistols

Two persons were arrested with 10 pistols and 40 live cartridges from Amravati district, about 650 kilometres from here, by Thane police's Crime Branch, a senior official said Monday.

The arrests were in connection with an Arms Act case registered in May this year in Shil Daigar police station here, Thane police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar said at a press conference Monday.

He said the police received a tip-off that one of the main accused in the May 2018 case, identified as Mukesh, was expected to be arrive at a hotel in Amravati.

Acting on the tip-off, a Crime Branch Unit I team of Thane police led by senior inspector Nitin Thackeray arrived in Amravati on December 29, he said.

While Mukesh managed to escape the police dragnet, two of his accomplices, identified as Soheb Ishaq Shaikh (21) and Rahim Habib Shaikh (32), were picked up on December 29, the police commissioner told reporters.

He said 10 pistols and 40 live cartridges were found in their possession, worth Rs 3.10 lakh, adding that a probe had begun to unravel the arms network being operated by the accused and their absconding accomplices.

Phansalkar said several teams of the Thane police were currently engaged in nabbing others in the racket, including main accused Mukesh.

He added that the arms confiscated might have a link to a murder case registered earlier at Narpoli police station in the district's Bhiwandi township.

The arrested duo were remanded in police custody till January 7 by a local court, he added.

An official said preliminary investigations have revealed that the arms might have been procured from Munger, a district in the eastern part of Bihar.