Jitters as illegal firearms back in Chennai

Chennai: The Tuesday night shootout in bustling Sowcarpet is bringing furrows to the brows of security experts who are worried about the frequency with which illegal firearms are rearing their head in the city. That the Sowcarpet firing took place right under the nose of Elephant Gate police station, less than 500 m away from spot of the killing shows the effrontery with which firearms are being carried around in the city.

The incident comes barely a week after the city police seized two handguns -a revolver and a Russian make pistol from realtor Stephen of Injambakkam, the cyanide-umbrella killer accused of killing three persons.

The model code of conduct being in place, the incidence of vehicle checks is very high in the city currently, despite which the gang seems to have managed to
carry the weapon around.

“This security breach has to be viewed seriously by the caretaker State machinery”, said a security expert, requesting anonymity. On March 6, the Organised Crime Investigation Unit (OCIU) managed to seize a 0.22 mm bore pistol by way of laying a trap in which four persons have been arrested so far.

The said gang was trying to sell off the firearm for a good price to local gangs.
On January 9, the office of cooperative minister and Madurai West MLA Sellur K. Raju, located in Sammattipuram, came under an attack by crude bombs while another simultaneous crude bomb attack was made on the AIADMK party office at Mathichiyam, in Madurai.

A week prior to that, the Temple City had borne witness to a crude bomb attack in the high security zone of the Meenakshi Amman temple. Here in Chennai, a country bomb packed with commercial explosives was recovered from the facade of a school in Vyasarpadi Bhathavachalam Colony on January 8.

The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) had also recovered a kind of bomb from the terrace of the Regional Meteorological Centre on College Road in November last year. Also, an advocate- Kamesh was killed in a shootout by his rogue client using an illegal firearm on September 6, 2015.