Can Social Media Platform Emerge As New Challenge?

Barwani/ Sendhwa (Madhya Pradesh): With the advent of social media, illegal firearms and ammunition are now a click away from delivery. A team of Sendhwa City police team in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday arrested a person from Rajasthan who search potential customer and sell weapons through social media.

Barwani SP Punit Gehlot informed that police acting on a tip-off arrested Piraram Jat, a smuggler from Rajasthan who used to procure weapons from Sikligars of Umrathi village and sell it after finding customers online. Police recovered a revolver, four pistols, 12 country-made revolvers along with seven live cartridges from the accused.

The market value of seized arms stands around Rs 3.34 lakh. This is the first case in recent times of weapons being sold online. Sources said that online delivery of weapons could emerge as a new challenge. SP Gehlot informed that Sendhwa city police station in-charge Rajesh Yadav has got the tip-off about a suspicious person standing in front of Advantage City with a black bag.

The police team immediately rushed to the spot. Looking at the police team, the accused tried to run away from there, but he was caught immediately.

SP Gehlot said that when police interrogated the accused, he informed that he is a native of Rajasthan. During further investigation, it was revealed that the accused used Facebook and other social media platforms to search customers for weapons by befriending them on Instagram and when the customer was found, they used to deal by sending photos of weapons through WhatsApp.

At present, the police are interrogating the accused from whom the customers used to buy weapons. In the last two months, 44 arms and 10 live rounds have been recovered by Sendhwa city police by taking major action against arms smugglers. Pleased with the action, the superintendent of police (SP) has announced a reward of Rs 10k to the police team.