AJK schoolteacher booked for selling, possessing firearms

Published September 25, 2017
SP Zulqarnain and DSP Riaz Mughal (right) are seen along with the recovered arms and ammunition. ─ Photo by author
SP Zulqarnain and DSP Riaz Mughal (right) are seen along with the recovered arms and ammunition. ─ Photo by author

A schoolteacher in Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Kotli district was booked under the Arms Act after police recovered a large cache of firearms from his residence near the Line of Control (LoC), an official said on Monday.

Muhammad Ejaz, a junior teacher in a state-run school, was involved in the sale of arms and ammunition in Jandrot village of tehsil Nakyal for quite some time, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Chaudhry Zulqarnain Sarfraz.

"On receipt of reliable information that he has stashed sizeable quantity of weapons at his residence, a police team conducted a raid on Sunday night after obtaining a search warrant from the local sub-divisional magistrate," he said.

The team recovered six AK-47 assault rifles (Kalashnikovs), two 12-bore repeaters resembling Kalashnikov rifles, one 223-bore gun, five MP5s, 30-bore guns, seven 30-bore pistols, one 9mm pistol, 41 magazines of different bores, 2,367 bullets of different bores and one dagger.

The SP said the accused would also provide weapons on rent for wedding ceremonies.

He added that it would be premature to say if the accused was linked to any outlawed militant group or worked for any enemy country.

"Apparently he was involved in this illicit business for the sake of money," the SP said.

He said further details would come to fore upon completion of interrogation.

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