Swords seizure: Belgaum man in Panaji, DHNS: The Goa police have brought a man from Belgaum in connection with the seizure of swords after the communal flare-up in Margao last month. Superintendent of Police S Prabhudessai said that Jagdish Singh, believed to have transported the swords from Punjab to Goa en route to Belgaum is being questioned.
Five persons were arrested after the police, acting on a tip-off, found swords being transported into the state. Some 17 swords have so far been recovered, SP said. Among the arrested is one Bashir Shaikh, a resident of Moti Dongor in Margao. Shaikh's furniture shop was set on fire on June 28, the night after communal tension gripped Margao as Bajrang Dal and RSS activists targeted Muslim shopkeepers and residents over eve-teasing incident. Shaikh reportedly told the police that swords had been procured for self-defence. This is the second incident in recent months that attempts have been made to polarise the residents of Margao over religious lines. Margao, from where Chief Minister Digambar Kamat was elected, has seen a large ingress of Muslim settlers from Karnataka. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul82008/national2008070777555.asp
