Arms smuggler arrested in Mizoram

Aizawl, Mar 29 (UNI) Mizoram police has seized a point 22 pistol from a person at Upper Kanan area here.

Police today said the man has been arrested yesterday and has confessed that he was a middle-man in the selling of arms in the Northeast.

According to the intelligence officials, most of the arms come to the region from neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar through porous borders of Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.

Referring to a recent report of the International Action Network of Small Arms (IANSA), Intelligence officials here stated there are 7.50 crore illegal arms in the Southeast Asian countries out of which 6.30 crore are possessed by civilians in India and Pakistan.

''The illegal arms are made in Bangladesh and joint forces of Bangladesh had reportedly destroyed at least 21 local arms factories from July 2005 and June 2006,'' officials added.

UNI