Shillong : A Junior Commissioned Officer serving with the Indian Army has been arrested in Meghalaya with cache of ammunition, which he decamped the army’s armoury in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The unidentified JCO, attached with the 42 Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested by Meghalaya police in coordination with Eastern Command-based Military Intelligence from his residence at 9th mile Baridua in Ri-Bhoi district on Thursday night.
During the raid at the JCO’s residence, police found out several ammunition include 1052 AK-47 ammunition, seven LMG 7.62 ammunition, 14 INSAS 5.56 ammunition, 30.32 pistol ammunition, three empty cases, one tear smoke grenade, one hand grenade, one INSAS empty magazine, three AK-47 empty magazines, a police official said.
Apart from the ammunition, police said several illegal wildlife articles include seven deer antlers, one lower jaw with teeth of a wild boar, one deer skull and 34 stamp seals from various government departments were also seized from his residence.
The arrested JCO, a resident of Mizoram, is now in police custody after a case was registered under Khanapara police station under various sections of Arms Act and Wildlife Protection Act.
On the other hand, intelligence officials said the arrested JCO of the Indian Army had decamped the ammunition from the Indian army’s armoury.
“Interrogation is on to find out how he (arrested JCO) managed to hoodwink everybody and slipped the huge cache of ammunition from Jammu and Kashmir all the way to the North East,” the official said.
“We suspect that the ammunition are destined to Manipur. We are interrogating him on all fronts to find out about his linkages with any militant groups in this region and the network he is associated with and his ultimate motive,” the official said.
