KOHAT, Sept 1: Arms dealers kept their shops shut on Saturday, the second day of their strike, to protest against police raids on their shops and registration of cases against them.

The Kohat city police had raided arms shops in Bannu Bazaar on Thursday and seized illegal weapons. They also arrested seven arms dealers.

The raiding team was led by ASP Athar Waheed and Station House Officer of city police station Lal Fareed Khan.

One Kalashnikov, some 8mm and 9mm rifles, some 11-, 12-bore repeaters, a few 15-, 12-bore guns and other weapons were seized during the raid.

Police also sealed two shops and arrested Waheedullah, Faizullah, Khalid Mahmood, Tariq Mahmood, Fain Shah, Dildar Hussain and Ijaz on charges of keeping illegal arms smuggled from Darra Adam Khel without maintaining a proper record.

Addressing a press conference here, ASP Athar said the police had learnt that the dealers were involved in arms smuggling.

They bought arms from Darra Adam Khel at cheap rates and get the serial numbers from local arms manufacturers. Besides, he said, they had kept more arms than allowed in their quota and used to issue fake licences and smuggle weapons to other parts of the country through carriers at high rates.