Kolkata, June 20 (IANS) A large quantity of firearms and cartridges was recovered in Basanti in South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, leading to the arrest of two local Trinamool Congress leaders.

The names of the arrested persons are Shaokat Gayen and Zafar Sheikh.

The Basanti police and a team of the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF) jointly conducted the search operation and recovered the firearms.

According to the police, 14 long-range firearms and 95 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the pond area of Shaokat Gayen.

According to local sources, Rezaul Gayen, son of Shaokat Gayen, was elected as a panchayat member from Basanti’s Kanthalberia gram panchayat on a Trinamool Congress ticket.

Rezaul Gayen is considered close to local Trinamool leader Raja Gazi.

A few days ago, the police launched searches at locations linked to arrested former Trinamool Congress strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.

A large number of firearms were recovered during those searches. The firearms had allegedly been hidden in a pond.

Based on that development, a person identified as Ramzan Sheikh was arrested from Charavidya village in Basanti.

Ramzan Sheikh is said to be close to former Trinamool MLA Saokat Molla from the Canning Purba constituency.

Ramzan had close ties with both Saokat Molla — who was recently arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a bomb blast case — and Sheikh Shahjahan, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

A few days ago, the STF had already recovered several firearms from Ramzan’s residence.

As the STF began interrogating him in custody, one arms cache after another in Basanti came to light.

A significant quantity of firearms and ammunition has been recovered from the area over the past few days.

Furthermore, Ramzan’s interrogation led the police to a stash of weapons allegedly hidden at the residence of Shaokat Gayen.

The firearms and ammunition were concealed beneath the steps of a pond ghat.

Search operations were conducted on Saturday to locate the weapons.

Following the recovery of the firearms, Shaokat Gayen and Jafar Sheikh were arrested for their alleged involvement in the matter.

–IANS

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