UP: Gang smuggling bulletproof jackets busted; three arrested

A gang of arms peddlers, who was also dealing in smuggling and sale of duplicate bulletproof jackets, was busted in western Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Muzaffarnagar district on Wednesday, the police said.

Shyam Kishan, Sunil Chandra and Maan Singh were arrested and three bulletproof jackets, including an original and two duplicates, two countrymade pistols and four cartridges of .315 bore were also seized from them, said Deepak Chaturvedi, station house officer (SHO), Jansath police station, Muzaffarnagar.

Kishan belongs to Mohanpuri locality in Meerut, and Chandra and Singh are from Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar, the SHO said.

“This is for the first time that bulletproof jackets have been seized from western UP. The smugglers’ clients are likely to be criminals and white-collar people, who need protection. The arrested accused have revealed the names of a few of their clients during interrogation. Investigation is in progress to gather more information about their network of clients,” the SHO said.

Chaturvedi said the sale of bulletproof jackets is carried out through designated agencies.

He said Kishan, who had stayed in Chennai sometime ago, had come in the contact with manufacturers of bulletproof jackets.

“He started selling bulletproof jackets after he returned to Meerut. He used to buy bulletproof jackets from Chennai for Rs 60,000 and sell them in western UP for around Rs 1.35 lakh. Later, he started making duplicate bulletproof jackets himself in a bid to increase his profit margin and also to meet the growing demand. He also reached out to local arms smugglers to expand his illicit business,” the SHO added.

Chaturvedi said the police were trying to gather more information on how many bulletproof jackets he had managed to sell to date.

He said the information about smuggling of bulletproof jackets was received from a member of an arms smuggling gang, who was arrested in early October.

S Raju

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