Posted on 02/09/2005 4:46:20 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
MUMBAI: Mafia gangs here are major buyers of small arms in the international market, and police here are not surprised by reports that they are now making purchases from Nepal's Maoist guerrillas.
The mafia has established links in the international drugs, arms and human trafficking circuit for several years, police officers say.
Apart from different guns, the mafia is known to buy assault rifles and huge amounts of ammunition. The underworld is known to show a preference for grenades.
However, considering the small scale of their operations, Mumbai's mafia dons do not go in for items like grenade launchers, which require a high degree of skill to use, say police officials.
Even the assassins, as hit men are known here, shoot from close range since they do not have adequate practice.
The mafia is known to trade in drugs and gold in return for weapons. Often hawala, or money laundering, channel is used to transfer money.
Mumbai's underworld is also known to have links with groups like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since smuggling and hawala routes overlap, police sources say.
In the past, the mafia was also linked to the Colombian drug cartel though those links have reportedly snapped due to America's war on terror.
J DEY
Posted online: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 at 0229 hours IST
MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 7: Mumbai police have discovered to their alarm that surplus arms belonging to Maoist insurgents in Nepal are finding easy buyers in the underworld.
Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officers have confirmed that large consignments of arms belonging to Maoist insurgents are being purchased by members of the Chhota Rajan gang.
The startling link was unearthed when the ATS intercepted a group of gunrunners near Antop Hill in Central Mumbai on Sunday evening with a consignment earmarked for the Rajan gang.
An American Ruger revolver and a country-made revolver with five live rounds were recovered from the suspects. And initial investigations have revealed that one of the gunrunners Manoj Bansal Kothari is related to Chhota Rajan’s key lieutenant in Mumbai, D K Rao.
Kothari and his associate Raju Jagdish Gala alias Annya were seriously injured in Sunday’s exchange of fire. ATS chief A Raghuvanshim, however, declined to confirm the Nepal connection. ‘‘I cannot disclose details,’’ said Raghuvanshi.
Senior ATS officials believe that most of the arms seized in recent weeks have found their way here from Nepal, which are slipped into the terrai region of Himalayas before reaching Nepalganj.
An army of gunrunners have been hired to smuggle the arms from key points—Birganj and Gorakpur—to Mumbai, said ATS sources. The weapons often change hands before reaching its final destination, the sources added.
‘‘We can smell huge consignments of Maoist arms in the city,’’ said Deputy Commissioner of Police Jaijeet Singh.
Rajan’s men have been using the age-old smuggling routes with Nepal to get their arms consignments over the years. Slain lieutenant O P Singh had been one of the key operators having links with the Nepal-based gunrunners. Slain Nepalese MLA Mirza Dilshad Beg was also known as a main supplier of arms to Mumbai’s gangsters before he was terminated in 1998.
But the latest haul is particularly significant considering the current political situation in Nepal, with the Maoists on a collision course with King Gyanendra’s new government.
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