The Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal Police on Sunday said that it has arrested five persons from the Jibantala area of South 24 Parganas district and recovered a huge cache of live cartridges and firearms.

A series of raids were conducted in Jibantala and Minakha areas of South and North 24 Parganas and 190 live cartridges of 7.65mm calibre, one double-barreled 12-bore IOF gun, and nine live 12-bore cartridges were recovered, the STF said.

A detailed probe revealed that cartridges were manufactured at an ordnance factory and were supplied from there, a police officer said. “We suspect these cartridges were supplied to the criminals. Officers are trying to trace them,” he added.

According to a source in the STF the cartridges were used in various shootouts across the state.

Those arrested have been identified as Ashik Iqbal Gazi alias Bappa Gazi (40) of Hasnabad; Haji Rasid Molla (71) of Jibantala, South 24 Parganas; Abdul Selim Gaji (45) alias Bablu of Hasnabad, North 24 Parganas; Jayanta Dutta (49) of Sutraghar Santipur, Nadia district; and Faruk Mallick (30) of Haroa in North 24 Parganas.

Among them, Dutta, is an employee of a prominent Kolkata firearms and ammunition store, an STF source said. The owner of a shop, selling licenced firearms and ammunition, located in Kolkata’s Lalbazar area, has been summoned by the STF officers for questioning on Monday, the source said. Police said more shops, selling licenced firearms and ammunition in the state, could be involved.

— with PTI Inputs