86 firearms recovered

Kochi, Jan 10 (UNI) Customs Officials today recovered 86 foreign made firearms from a furniture consignment from Dubai at the Cochin Port.

A Customs official said 49 air pistols and 37 air guns were seized from the consignment.

He said the arms seizure was made after examining around 800 boxes in a container.

The arms were manufactured by Spanish firm Gamo and US companies Walther and Beretta and the brand new pistols and guns were packed in packets.

Meanwhile, high ranking police officials including Security Wing IG Asthana, IG Arun Kumar Sinha and Ernakulam Range DIG Ravada Chandrashekar part of the investigating team headed by Additional DGP Jacob Punnoose were here to take stock of the situation.

Talking to reporters, Mr Sinha said investigations were progressing and all aspects relating to the arms seizure would be looked into.

Yesterday, Ananth Pai, proprietor of Premier Exporters, the clearing agent in the import of the cargo concerned, was detained for interrogation.

According to reports, the police were on the look for R O Koya hailing from Thrissur, the consignee of the cargo.

UNI