Police bust arms racket

 City police busted a counterfeit currency and arms racket on Monday evening. Nine people were arrested and counterfeit currency with a face value of Rs 40 lakh along with a huge tranche of illegal arms was seized.

Police believe the huge cache of arms and fake currency had their origin in Pakistan and were sneaked into the country through the Indo-Bangla border.

City police Commissioner

B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji said: “About six men, gunrunners and counterfeit currency operating from the Indo-Bangla border had come to the City to circulate the fake currency and also sell the arms to rowdy elements and other anti-social elements in the City.”

Acting on a tip-off, a special police team lead by Assistant Commissioner of Police Nyamegoud from Ulsoorgate station raided a lodge in the City on Monday evening where they seized the loot and made the arrests.

Pakistani connection

Police sources said two of the nine arrested may be Pakistani nationals.
The arrested were identified as Rehman, 32, Jeevan Paramneet, 26, Santoo Singh, 21, Ranjith, 26, Pradeep, 28, Wasit, 26 all hailing from the Indo-Bangla border, Balu, 34, a rowdy sheeter from the City, Sambashiva, 35 and Mohan, 34, both rowdy sheeters hailing from Dharmavaram.

The police seized 7,600 fake currency notes of Rs 500 face value and 200 fake currency notes of Rs 1,000 face value, totalling to Rs 40 lakh face value.

The police have also recovered three carbine sten guns, six pistols, 40 bullets of 0.22 mm calibre and 20 bullets of 9 mm calibre. 

A case was registered at Sampangirama Nagar police station. A senior police official told Deccan Herald that they had information that the two suspected Pakistanis owned a printing press across the border where the fake currency might have been printed.

Four suspects are natives of districts in West Bengal, bordering Bangladesh.
Police sources said the fake currency and illegal arms were brought into the country with an intention to subvert the economy and disturb the peace.

However, police sources were skeptical of any links with the Inter Services Intelligence or ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, or any other agency in Pakistan.
“They might be just circulators of fake currency and illegal arms. This is a business for them, nothing more may be,” said a senior officer.

Balu, 34, a local rowdy from the City, was also arrested with the gang.
Police believe he is the gang’s main link to circulate fake currency and sell illegal arms to rowdy elements in Bangalore.

Links with other states

Suspects Sambashiva, 35, and Mohan, 34, who are from Dharmavaram in Tamil Nadu, might be the links for circulation in the neighbouring state, said the police.

ACP Nyamegouda’s special team plans to go to West Bengal on Wednesday to further investigate the case. City Commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji, said investigations were at a preliminary stage. He declined further comment.