Route changes from militants ’camps to criminals’ dens 

ARMS & AMMUNITION SUPPLY

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: At a time when the militant outfits are laying down their arms, security forces and police seized at least 305 arms and 2,342 rounds of ammunition, mostly from those committed robberies, extortion and other anti-social acts in the State in 2018.

The data came to the light in the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report. Of the total seizures, 163 illegal arms were seized from criminals and 119 from militants. Similarly, 862 rounds of unlicensed bullets were seized from criminals and 359 rounds from militants. Besides, 23 licensed arms and 1,121 rounds of licensed ammunition were seized.

Quoting the findings of the NCRB report, a source in Assam Police said that with the majority of militant outfits either declaring ceasefire or laying down arms, the illegal arms smugglers diverted their supply route from insurgents to criminals. The smugglers use the railways to transport the illegal arms and ammunition.

Sources said that most of the arms and ammunition seized in Assam were made in China; and they found their ways to the State from Dimapur in Nagaland. Police considers Dimapur as a thriving underground market of illegal arms and ammunition.

On other hand, sources added that the arms smugglers continue to supply to small-time criminal gangs and poachers in the State. Nagaon district is one of the hot favourites for the gunrunners. With a number of criminal gangs active and with their presence in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in the district, smugglers are supplying firearms to them and the poachers, the source said, adding that the supply of arms to the poachers has comparatively declined in the last few years.

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