Two held for ‘smuggling’ firearms into city

Two men were arrested in Grant road Wednesday evening by Mumbai Police Crime branch for allegedly smuggling unlicenced firearms into the city,police said.

Police said both the suspects are natives of Kanpur,Uttar Pradesh and were nabbed outside Grant Hotel based on a tip-off. While one of the suspects,Aarif Mohammad (33),works in the leather industry,the other — Iqbal Ahmad (21) is a cobbler,police said. A country-made pistol worth Rs 30,000 and two live rounds worth Rs 1,000 were seized from their possession. The suspects told police that they had arranged to meet a buyer at the hotel and sell him the arms for Rs 1 lakh. The buyer is yet to be identified,police said.

“We are probing if they were going to sell the arms like they have claimed or if they were to commit a crime. We are verifying their intentions,” said a crime branch officer.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com