A 20-year-old youth, who had posted a display picture on his Instagram account holding a gun, was arrested on Monday night for alleged illegal possession of arms.
Police said that on examining the youth, Imran Khan, they found eight guns, including a pipe gun, and 12 bullets on the roof of a hardware shop where he had allegedly kept them.
Some people post photographs with arms — fake or genuine — on social media, but cops The Telegraph spoke to said they could not recall the last time someone got arrested based on the display picture of his or her social media account showing the person holding a gun.
Khan, a resident of Bilandapur in South 24 Parganas’ Magrahat and son of a fishery owner, has apparently told the police that he was not aware that posting pictures on social media with guns would land him in trouble.
An officer of the Diamond Harbour sub-division said they came across Imran’s Instagram profile and saw that he was posing with a gun.
“We got specific information that he was in illegal possession of arms and ammunition. On raiding his house on Monday night, we found him at home. On being asked, he showed us the place where he had hidden his guns,” said the officer.
The police said they were yet to learn from where Imran had procured so many guns.
“He has not been able to provide any explanation why he was in possession of so many arms. He does not have an arms licence either,” the officer said.
Imran was earlier detained in connection with an attempt to murder a businessman named Azgar Ali in Magrahat.
“He was a minor then. So no formal charges were pressed against him. Now he has been arrested under the arms act,” said an officer of Magrahat police station.
The police said they were suspecting that Imran was part of a larger gang involved in arms smuggling.
“The ringleaders were probably using the youth as a carrier or they might have tasked him with hiding the arms before they could be used in any operation,” said an officer.
Another officer said they were expecting to know more details about the arms and whether the consignment was to be handed to someone once they questioned the youth.