Major Arms Cache Seized at Sandeshkhali West Bengal Raid by CBI and NSG
Kolkata: In a broad daylight raid and search operation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and National Security Guard (NSG) have recovered a cache of fire-arms including foreign weapons, ammunition and bombs from a house at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas of West Bengal.
The CBI seizure list includes three foreign made revolvers, one Indian revolver, one Colt official police revolver, one foreign made pistol, one country made pistol, 120 rounds of nine-mm bullets, 50 rounds of .45 calibre cartridges, 120 rounds of 9 mm calibre cartridges, 50 rounds of .380 cartridges and eight rounds of .32 cartridges.
The CBI’s crackdown is related to a case that was filed following a Calcutta High Court order for a probe into the violent mob attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team during its raid at the house of Trinamul Congress strongman Shahjahan Sheikh in January.
It also came a day after it registered its first FIR against five accused including Shahjahan for sexual assault on women and land grab in the area.
The house at Mallikpur in Sarberia of Sandeshkhali from where the cache was recovered on Friday, belongs to a family member of local TMC worker Hafizul Khan, who is an aide of Shahjahan.
The CBI stated, “During investigation of this case, information was received that the items lost by the ED team and other incriminating articles may be hidden at the residence of an associate of Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali. Accordingly, the team of CBI alongwith CRPF personnel searched two premises at village Sandeshkhali, North 24 Parganas.”
The CBI later sought help of the NSG which immediately sent a team of Black Cat commandos from its regional hub at Rajarhat to check the stockpile of explosives, if any. A robot was pressed by the NSG into action to scan the area for detection.The CBI added, “Besides, many incriminating documents related to Shahjahan have also been recovered. Some items suspected to be country made bombs have also been recovered which are being handled and disposed off by the teams from NSG. The search is still continuing.”
