25,000 bullets seized from 2 cars in Jhajjar; gun shop owner among 5 held

Chandigarh. Acting on a tip-off from Bihar, Haryana Police’s Special Task Force (STF) recovered 25,000 live cartridges near a roadside dhaba at Rohad in Jhajjar district on Tuesday morning. Investigators say the stock was allegedly bought from a licensed arms dealer in Haryana’s Sirsa.

All five people arrested are from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. One of them runs a gun house there. Police say the case has exposed an ammunition supply network running across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The lead came from Bhojpur in Bihar. On Monday, Bihar Police’s STF arrested a man named Laltu and his associates and seized about 20,000 cartridges from them. During questioning, it came out that Laltu was in close touch with Afifuddin alias Munna Khan and had bought cartridges from him. Bihar STF passed on the information, and the Rohtak unit of Haryana STF moved quickly.

That puts the haul from the two raids at nearly 45,000 cartridges in two days.

On Tuesday morning, the team searched a Tata Harrier and a Hyundai Aura parked by the roadside in front of Triveni Dhaba at Rohad. The Harrier, with three people inside, held 24,400 live cartridges of KF 7.65 and BMM KF bore. The Aura, carrying two people, had 600 cartridges marked BMM KF. Eight mobile phones were also recovered.

The arrested have been identified as Afifuddin alias Munna Khan (49), Aasim Rais (33), Sablou Khan (32), Arbaz Ali (27) and Zeenat (33), all residents of Badaun. None of them could show a licence or any papers for the cartridges. Police have seized both vehicles, the ammunition and the phones.

An FIR has been registered at Asaudha police station in Jhajjar under Sections 25(1-B)(a) and 25(8) of the Arms Act.

According to police, Munna Khan runs Badaun Gun House in the Civil Lines police station area of Badaun. He had travelled to Sirsa, where he allegedly bought the consignment from a local resident, Vijay Goyal. Goyal is reported to be the owner of Mahak Gun House in Sirsa.

Haryana STF is working with Bihar STF and Uttar Pradesh Police to find the actual source of the cartridges, how they were moved and who they were meant for. The role of others linked to the network is also being examined.