Fake arms licence racket busted in Hyderabad; 7 held

A sevenmember gang allegedly running a fake arms licence racket here has been busted and the seven included a mastermind belonging to Jammu and Kashmir a police official said on ThursdayThe gang used bogus seals of licenceissuing officials and forged signatures to prepare the arm licences and procured real weapons said Hyderabad city commissioner of police C V Anand in a releaseActing on a tipoff the west zone task force caught the gang and booked it for allegedly cheating forgery making counterfeit seals criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of arms the police saidThe police seized 30 singlebore weapons three doublebore weapons one revolver 140 rounds of ammunition 34 fake weapon licence documents 29 unused weapons licence books nine licences which were affixed with fake stamp six rubber stamps and one unsigned NOCAccording to the police the mastermind of the racket who they identified as Altaf Hussain came to Hyderabad in 2013 for a livelihood and joined a private security firm Later he was deployed as gunman for a firm handling cash Prior to that he bought a double bore gun using a fake licence in Rajouri district ofJammu and Kashmir which he had obtained by bribing the local magistrate office the police saidAs Altaf was familiar with the process and licence details he teamed up with a stamp vendor in Secunderabad and started issuing fake licences the police said adding the fake were used to get armsAlso Read Digital footprints most important to nail Aftab say Mumbai cyber crime expertHe trapped unemployed youth residing in different States who tried to make a living as security guards in private security firms He procured weapons from other States through the youth for Rs 40000 to Rs 60000 the police saidThis infringement has taken place with the connivance of a regional manager of a security services firm and a shopowner here they saidThe accused used to collect Rs 20000 from each unemployed youngster and later deploy them in private security agencies Three such firms engaged security guards who were in possession of illicit weapons and deployed them to their clientele that included VVIPs jewellery showrooms agencies engaged for carrying ATM cash and as personal guards the police saidThe power of issuing arms licences and renewals is vested with police This issuing fake arms licences is illegal and a serious threat to public safety The private security firms must adhere to Private Security Agency Regulation Act PSARA under which the operation of private security agencies is governedA private security agency cannot hire a guard with a firearms licence and they should also submit an undertaking to this effect If banks ATMs and business establishments want armed guards they can apply for arms licence and then hire the guards as retainers from the security services the police saidThe Hyderabad police chief further said a meeting with all private security agencies would be held to urge them to voluntarily disclose the weapons in their possessionThe city police was also contemplating on issuing retainer licences to private security firms he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever