When I saw the headline, I thought: Oh No, here we go again,Assam :-)! cm
Illegal arms factories' order books full [ 27 Feb, 2007 0320hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates KANPUR: Even as the Election Commission has directed the state government to seize all the licensed weapons in the wake of the ensuing assembly polls but no one seems to be bothered about busting the illegal arms factories thriving across the state. Cocking a snook at the administrative machinery, a rough estimate based on the inputs from the local intelligence units suggests that more than 1,000 illegal arms manufacturers are active in the state. And these manufacturers of illegal arms (katta) were existing in most parts of the state with Central and the eastern UP having a slight edge over the rest of the regions. The existence of these illegal arms manufacturers was a major threat to the fragile law and order situation in the state where assembly polls were scheduled in the months of April and May. A visit to a few such factories suggested that ever since poll dates have been declared in the state, the supply orders for the illegal arms has suddenly increased and most of the manufacturers are working overnight to meet the deadlines. "We have been asked to delivers the arms latest by February end", said Ram Narain (name changed), an illegal arms manufacturer active in the Katri area of Kanpur. The arms manufacturers informed that besides professional criminals, their customers included political workers and student leaders. Even policemen come knocking their doors on a few occasions. "Policemen take defunct arms from us and show them during the fake encounters", he added. The cost of the illegal arms varies from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 and is sold through a group of middlemen involved in this illegal trade. The 12-bore katta is the cheapest and can be purchased for Rs 500 but the revolvers and rifles cost more than Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively, informed one of the middlemen. The same middleman had allowed the TOI photographer access a few illegal arms factories functional in the Ganga Katri area of Kanpur. "Majority of our clients mainly during the polls include student leaders and we have a regular network with them as how and where to deliver the arms", he added. Locals informed that the Katri area of Kanpur-Unnao districts was the most notorious in making of the illegal arms as almost every third family was involved in this unethical practice. As Katri area has no road connectivity and one can reach there only by boat, police rarely try to tighten the noose around the families involved in the business. Besides, the CTC-Colony in Kalyanpur on Kanpur outskirts, a Habura Basti in Naubasta, Awas Vikas Colony are a few other localities in the district known for the illegal arms factories. The arms manufactured at Panahi village in Fatehpur district and Maurava in Unnao district are renowned for the best finish and are costliest in the region. The manufacturers also informed that they use steering wheels mainly of trucks and jeeps to make the gun barrels and equipment needed for the manufacturing are a LPG cylinder, stove, wielding machine, screw-drivers etc. IG-Kanpur zone, Rizwan Ahmad, however, says that a large number of the illegal arms manufacturers had already been arrested and extensive campaigns were being launched to nab the remaining few. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
