The Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal Police on Saturday recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition and arrested one more person from Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district in connection with Sheikh Shahjahan, a strongman of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), who masterminded an attack on Enforcement Directorate officials in January 2024.
Raids were still underway, police said.
Shahjahan was arrested in February 2024 and has been in custody since then.
Police had initially arrested three men, allegedly close associates of Shahjahan, who led them to the first spot at Sarberia, from where five firearms were recovered from an abandoned house.
Acting on their information, police then raided another location in a village in Manipur, from where 13 firearms and ammunition were recovered from beneath a fish farm. One more person was arrested from there.
“Sheikh Shahjahn used to run this network. They had procured the arms and used them in various crimes. Investigation is going on,” a senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said.
“Police have recovered 10 long firearms and eight small arms along with 56 live cartridges. In total we have arrested four persons. Two persons have been detained for questioning. Raids are still going on. Our teams are on the ground. We are getting more information,” he added.
In February 2024, protests erupted in Sandeshkhali, with villagers, mostly women, demanding the arrest of Shahjahan and his aides over allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault against women. The Calcutta High Court later ordered a CBI probe, and the TMC leader, along with his aides Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, was arrested.
