The Customs at Kochi port today made a haul of French and German air rifles and pistols being imported in the guise of knocked-down furniture and detained a Karachi-bound ship at the port, sending the cops and security agencies here into a tizzy. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan informed that state intelligence chief Additional DGP Jacob Punnoose has been asked to probe the matter. City police commissioner P Vijayan said the police were seriously looking at the possibility that the sophisticated air rifles in the consignment could be converted for more lethal use. “We will seek expert help to assess that, once the customs hands over the case to us,” the Commissioner said. The weapons had arrived in a container from Dubai five days ago and were stored in the freight station operated by a company chaired by Tissan Thachankary. He is the brother of controversial IG Tomin Thachankary, whose video production house is being probed for video piracy, and whose name had earlier figured in a case involving smuggling of expensive video equipment from Singapore. The IG’s brother, however, said his company was involved only in facilitating storage for importers at the port, and had nothing to do with whatever was brought in the containers. Intriguingly, each knocked-down packet of the weapons was found to have a miniature copy of the Koran in it. As of evening, the Customs had opened 34 out of the 810 packets in the container, recovering 15 air rifles and 13 pistols. The consignment was routed through an import agent in Kochi, Ananta Pai, for a trader in Chavakkad, O Koya Haji, whose home was raided by the customs in the noon. Customs officials said Koya could not be found, while the cops have arrested the agent.
