Workers at popular Kolkata arms dealer shop arrested for smuggling guns to gangs

Arms dealer employees arrested in Kolkata for illegal arms sales, suspected link to gang violence across West Bengal.

Two workers from a popular arms dealer shop in Kolkata have been arrested for illegally selling arms from the heart of the city. They are suspected to have sold these arms illegally to gang members from outside the State and may have also been linked to the recent shootouts across West Bengal.

Both arms and cartridges were allegedly siphoned from the shop, NC Daw and Company, which has been operational since 1835, in central Kolkata’s BBD Bagh area. West Bengal Police’s Special Task Force (STF) had conducted the operation.

The two arrested employees, Jayanta Dutta and Santanu Sarkar, were employees of NC Daw and Co. shop. Mr. Dutta was arrested first along with four others, who were interrogated by the STF when they spilt the beans on Mr. Sarkar’s name.

A senior officer of the STF team said they have summoned all the other staff of the shop and were also intending to question the owners of the shop in relation to this case.

In recent investigations after the multiple shootouts across Bengal, the State police had realised that even if the arms were sourced from outside the State, many of the cartridges were from inside the State. This led to suspicion and further investigation.

In this operation, 190 factory-produced 7.65mm calibre live cartridges, nine 12-bore cartridges, and double-barrelled gun were recovered from the six arrested men.

It has been alleged that the two employees were working together to smuggle legal arms out of the shop in Kolkata and sell it illegally to gang members at hefty profits.