The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths busted an inter-state arms and ammunition supplying racket by nabbing a six-member gang waiting to sell arms to their clients.
The accused have been identified as Aslam Guttal, (45) a resident of Haveri and settled in Bengaluru, Dharmanna Devalappa Chouhan, (38), Javed Khan, (39) residents of Mysuru, Rayanna Gowda, ( 27) a resident of Hubballi, Syed Rizwan, (39) and Rohan Mondal, (27) both residents of Marathahalli.
The police seized three pistols, one revolver and eight live bullets from the accused.
Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime), said Alam Guttal, who was the kingpin of the racket, used to source weapons from his contract Rohan Mandal, a native of West Bengal.
Mandal had come to the city a couple of years ago and, after coming in contact with Guttal, the duo started dealing in weapons. Mandal already had a case against him in West Bengal.
Mandal used to source weapons from West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and Guttal used to sell them to his customers for Rs 5,000 to 10,000. He use to smuggle the weapons concealed in baggage by train and bus.
Patil further added that Mandal was one of the main smugglers of arms into the city.