Cop held for stealing pistol

Though investigations have not yet revealed how many arms have been stolen from the armoury so far, a few hundred firearms, including shotguns, service revolvers and pistols, are rusting on the armoury8217;s racks because of the sheer lack of spare parts. Some of the weapons are even lying in a partly dismantled state.

However, sources at the Naigaon police armoury say that while some of the spares 8212; otherwise not available in the armoury8217;s inventory 8212; could be manufactured at any local machine shop, most police officers transferred to the arms section have little knowledge of weapons and their spares. This only adds to the problem. At times, the officers are busy attending to court cases and have little little time to inspect the inventory.