Guns , Sand siezed in combing operation !

Police in West Zone have seized 76 unlicenced guns from the districts in the zone during surprise checks over the last few days to detect unlicenced possession of firearms.A bulk of the cases of unlicenced possession of firearms was from Dharmapuri District, Inspector-General of Police (West Zone) Pramod Kumar told presspersons here on Monday.

Of these firearms, 25 were seized on Monday from Sitteri Village under Harur Police limits in Dharmapuri District, the official said.Cases have been registered against those who possessed these weapons.Some of them had said that they had used the guns for hunting.

Lorries

Mr. Pramod Kumar said five lorries smuggling sand from out of the State were intercepted during a combing operation that was carried out from 6 p.m. on Sunday to 6 a.m. on Monday.Four lorries were intercepted at Thuvalai in the Nilgiris District and one in Krishnagiri.Mr. Pramod Kumar said 15,000 police personnel in Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur, Salem, the Nilgiris, Namakkal, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts were involved in the combing operation.

The official said 12 persons were arrested on charges of smuggling sand and they included the owners, drivers and cleaners of the lorries.The official said 152 non-bailable warrants had been executed against persons involved in various criminal cases and five of these were persons who had been hunted for long by the police.As many as 594 persons had been taken into preventive custody, 81 persons booked for gambling and 13 for video piracy. Besides, 55 rowdy elements were also arrested.

As per Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s instructions at a meeting on June 27 to establish check-posts on inter-State borders to check sand and rice smuggling, 54 check-posts were put up in eight districts.This had led to the seizure of 75,790 kg of rice.Of the total 125 cases registered, 34 pertained to rice smuggling and the rest were in connection with sand smuggling.Totally, 268 persons were arrested for both offences and 141 vehicles seized.

Panels

The police also formed communal harmony committees, consisting of members of the public, in 696 villages. Similarly, Terrorism Prevention Committees were also formed in these districts (with numbers of brackets): Coimbatore (26), Dharmapuri (38), the Nilgiris (23), Erode (13), Tirupur (3) and Salem (3).

Both the committees had been formed to involve the public in supplementing the police’s efforts to prevent communal strife and extremist acitivities.The members of the second committee had been asked to inform the police of any movement of extremists in their locality.

A sustained drive by the police had led to 120 villages in Krishnagiri District and 40 in Dharmpuri District becoming arrack-free.

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