Arrested cop, aides sold pistols to realtors, advocates

They claimed that they had been in the business for five years and operate in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirupur. On January 26, officers from Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU) arrested S Parameswaran (34), a head constable with crime branch in Basin Bridge police station in Chennai, his relative Nagaraj (30) and Siva (32) while they were trying to sell to sell two-mm 7.65 type pistols and 10 bullets near Central bus stand in Tiruchy. 

After being interrogated by a team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and order) S Sakthi Ganesh, the accused confessed that they were involved in smuggling weapons from North Indian states and selling them to people in the state for large profits. 

They also admitted that they had bought six pistols recently and sold four of them to the realtors and advocates from Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirupur. The remaining weapons were taken to Tiruchy to be sold to a businessman in Thanjavur and a criminal in Tiruchy.

According to the police, the gang has been operating for five years and has in the last two years allegedly purchased 15 pistols from North Indian states including Bihar. The accused claimed that they used to buy the pistols for Rs 10,000 to 20,000 and sell them anywhere between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh. But if the demand was high, they increased the price even more. 

Meanwhile, the city police will be interrogating Mohamed Rafeeq, a NIA suspect now lodged in Puzhal jail, in connection with the seizure of six guns and counterfeit currency with a face value of Rs 4 lakh. 

It was seized from two Chennai men — Pradeep and Kamal —  who had arrived from Malda, West Bengal on Friday morning, said sources. Rafeeq was arrested by NIA for his links with Pakistan spy Zakir Hussain who was nabbed in 2014 in Chennai. Rafeeq had arranged fake Indian notes for Hussain’s associates.

“Pradeep and Kamal had used Rafeeq’s contacts to procure guns and Pakistan printed Indian counterfeit currency from West Bengal. We will have to question him,” a senior city police officer said.