Seven men have been arrested by the Commissioner's Task Force for allegedly running a fake arms licence racket.
Seven men have been arrested by the Commissioner's Task Force for allegedly running a fake arms licence racket.
The perpetrators used fake seals of licence-issuing officials and forged signatures to prepare fake arm licences and procure real weapons.
City Police Commissioner C V Anand, presenting the facts of the case in his office, said that the mastermind of the racket Altaf Hussain, resident of Rajouri district of Jammu & Kashmir, had come to the city in 2013 for a livelihood and joined Grace Management Security Service.
Later he was deployed as a gunman in SIS Cash Service, West Marredpally.
Prior to his employment in the city, he had purchased a double-bore gun in Rajouri using a fake arms licence, which he had obtained by bribing the local magistrate's office.
As Altaf Hussain was familiar with the process, he teamed up with Hafeezuddin, a stamp vendor in Secunderabad, and started issuing fake gun licenses by indulging in forgery and affixing fake seals.
The fake documents have been used to procure real arms.
The crime took place with the connivance of Venkata Konda Reddy, Regional Manager at Grace Management Security Services; and I Srinivas, a photocopy shop owner in West Marredpally.
The accused also recruited unemployed youngsters from J&K, collecting Rs 20,000 from each such youth to get them fake arms licences, and then deploying them in various private security agencies as guards authorized to carry weapons.
Asian Security Services, Nandamuri Security & Services and Grace Management Security Services engaged such security guards who were in possession of weapons obtained through the fake means, and deployed them to their clientele including VVIPs, jewellery showrooms and agencies engaged for carrying ATM cash, and as personal security guards.
Acting on a tip-off, the West Zone task force probed and busted the racket.
The accused have been booked under charges of cheating, forgery, making counterfeit seals, criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of arms.
The police seized a sizeable cache of arms and ammunition, and other items, including 30 single bore weapons, three double bore weapons, one revolver, 140 rounds, 34 fake weapon license books, 29 unused weapons license books, nine weapon licences which were affixed with fake stamps, six rubber stamps and one unsigned NOC.
?The power of issuing arms licenses and their renewals is vested with the police. This is illegal and a serious threat to public safety. The private security firms must adhere to the Private Security Agency Regulation Act (PSARA) under which their operations are governed. A private security agency cannot hire a guard with a firearms licence, and they should also submit an undertaking to this effect. If banks, ATMs, business establishments and so on want armed guards, they can apply for an arms license and then hire the armed guards as retainers from the security services," said the top brass.
"We have also alerted other commissionerates and district collectors," they added.
CP Anand said that the police would conduct a meeting with all private security agencies and urge them to voluntarily disclose the weapons in their possession.
The city police are also contemplating issuing retainer licences to private security firms who deploy their guards to commercial establishments, ATMs and other firms.