Terror returns with arms haul

A scan of a container from Bangkok supposedly loaded with barrels of industrial grease led to the seizure of foreign firearms and revived im...

A scan of a container from Bangkok supposedly loaded with barrels of industrial grease led to the seizure of foreign firearms and revived images of terror in the city.

At least 34 Webley, Colt and Smith and Wesson revolvers, three pistols, a silencer and 1,283 rounds of ammunition were found in barrels of grease at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, across the harbour from Mumbai.

The arms haul, valued at Rs 1 crore, comes after a two-year lull and has jolted the police and other law-enforcement agencies in Mumbai. Police units across the city have been placed on 8216;8216;high alert8217;8217;, said Police Commissioner A N Roy.

Roy said the consignment of sophisticated arms and ammunition was sent by gangster Bharat Nepali, right-hand man of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan, from Bangkok. 8216;8216;There has been absolutely no gangwar, nor any major underworld activity or communal riot for the past 16 months,8217;8217; said Roy.

After Black Monday8212;the twin bombings at the Gateway of India and Pydhonie in August 20038212;about 250 crude bombs were recovered from a dry well on Mumbai8217;s outskirts.

But firearms smuggled in over the ocean revived memories of the 1993 serial bombings, which tore apart Mumbai8217;s peace.

The arms were seized in a dramatic late-night action by a police squad led by JCP Crime Meera Borwankar on Friday but events began unfolding on Wednesday.

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The container from Bangkok coming out of the ship Mimista8212;and brought in by Mumbai8217;s Samudra Shipping Lines8212;was detained on suspicion initially by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRI. It contained 27 barrels of industrial lubricant.

8216;8216;We detained the container on May 18 without any inkling of its real contents,8217;8217; Additional Director General of the DRI, S B Singh, told Sunday Express.

The DRI8217;s investigation have revealed another container, belonging to the same importer, is lying in the docks uncleared for the last few weeks.

The DRI was on the trail of the contraband container ever since it was loaded from Bangkok. 8216;8216;The other risk parameters aroused a suspicion and therefore the container was detained soon after the vessel berthed,8217;8217; Singh said.

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Meanwhile, crime branch investigators had turned lucky. On a tipoff, they picked up Mukund Kanhaialal Patel from the western suburb of Kandivali. Patel was the consignment handling agent of Bharat Nepali8212;an aide of don Chhota Rajan8212;and was working as a supervisor of a shipping company at JNPT, Roy told reporters.

After Patel 37 was picked up from the Lata bar in Kandivali on Friday.

Patel also told police about the arms in the container. The police rushed to JNPT and asked to examine the container, even as the DRI was preparing to do exactly that. Finally, the container was opened in the presence of experts and DRI officers on Friday night. Patel is now in police custody till June 3.

with DAYANAND KAMATH