Roorkee man held for running illegal gun-making unit in Lathe workshop

ROORKEE: The Gangnahar police of Haridwar district on Monday busted a small illegal unit engaged in manufacturing firearms in Roorkee. During the raid, police recovered several country-made pistols, a rifle and cartridges from the spot.

The owner of the illegal unit has been arrested and police are now probing his criminal background and the possible supply network of the weapons.“We had received vital information from an informer about the illegal factory. The accused, in fact, ran a hereditary lathe machine workshop but started this illegal activity out of greed,” said SSP Navneet Singh Bhullar.According to police, the accused, Javed Tahir Ahmad, 40, a resident of Satti Mohalla in Roorkee, operated a machine works unit named JPS Total Solutions Workshop in Sunhera near Roorkee.

At the facility, he carried out various lathe machine jobs.However, acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid at the workshop and recovered six ready country-made firearms, locally known as katta, an unfinished .22 bore rifle, a pistol, a large number of live cartridges and cartridge cases, along with iron and brass pipes used in the manufacture of firearms, besides a substantial stock of raw material and equipment.

Police said Javed was a skilled and experienced turner, a profession practiced in his family for generations. However, lured by easy money, he allegedly started manufacturing illegal firearms.“He has been booked under the relevant sections of the Arms Act and produced before a local court, which has sent him to judicial custody. We are investigating how long he has been involved in the crime, how many illegal weapons he has manufactured and supplied so far, and who else may be associated with him in this racket,” the SSP added.