Hyderabad: Thirty-five-year-old Akhilesh Kumar Mishra came to Hyderabad from Sonbarsa village in the Bhojpur district of Bihar eight years ago to find a job. After doing petty jobs he joined a private agency as a security guard.
Akhilesh wanted money and during one of his visits to Bihar, a friend clinched a deal with him. His family did not know what he was doing, until Hyderabad police arrested him while he was trying to sell a country-made AK-47 rifle. Like Akhilesh, there are many illegal arms dealers in the Twin Cities selling weapons to customers. Anyone ready to spend Rs 20,000 or more can get country weapons.
Read: No system to track down illegal firearms in Hyderabad
There has been a spurt of smuggled guns in the city of late. Criminals now use guns more than other weapons. The recent ATM robbery at SR Nagar proved that even amateurs can get firearms. While most guns are with “visiting gangs” who come to the city from central and northern India native gangs also have weapons. Fake Naxals, mostly extortion gangs, too are on the prowl on the city’s outskirts with firearms, say sources.
Earlier this year, a gang opened fire at Rakshapuram Colony and looted a Railway employee of Rs 3.4 lakh. The gang, which was identified as Ghaziabad-based and led by a robber named Mohammed Islamia from Kolkata, was later busted by the Gujarat police. The heavily armed gang travelled by road to Hyderabad.
After arresting the amateur robber, 21-year-old Pedapally Shiva Kumar Reddy, who had looted a woman at an ATM after firing a round at the wall, police found that he had purchased the gun from another state. “He procured the 9 mm country-made pistol from Maharashtra,” said police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy.
There have been cases of extortion gangs targetting rich businessmen. Last year, an ex-Greyhounds cop named Obulesh who stole an AK-47 tried to extort money.
