Brothers in arms: In the market for ammunition
Police officials have discovered a market in Dera Ghazi Khan’s tribal areas Zinda Pir and Fazila Katch where sophisticated weapons, stolen motorcycles and other ammunition are openly on sale.
“The market is usually a secret business and people are often informed about the venue and time of the sale by a text message or a phone call,” said a police informant, Siddique. “There has been a market here for years but people keep the matter quiet. This is a border area and you can’t really stop people from buying guns,” he added.
Locals told police officials that there was also a man who manufactured fake arms licenses and documents for people at the same market. “He usually brings an entire kit with him and people give him their particulars and a photograph and he makes them a gun license on the spot,” said District Superintendent Police (DSP) Imran Qazi. “I was surprised to discover how large the operation was. We have known that there is a source where criminals have been getting arms from but we didn’t know it was this well organised,” he said.
According to police officials, the grenades used in the Darbar Sakhi Sarwar attack were also bought from this market. Behram Khan alias Sufi Baba, the mastermind of Sakhi Sarwar bombing revealed that the weapons had been provided by border police official Masq Ali. “He told us that police officials were some of the biggest buyers at the market and that one could also purchase police uniforms here,” said an official who wished to remain anonymous. The DSP said that he received a tip-off from Behram regarding the market. “He told us they shifted the location every time and we kept tabs on his accomplices to trace it out,” he added.
The DSP led a team of police officials on Thursday and apprehended a large consignment of weapons from the market being held at Chak 83-SJ chowki at 11 pm.
Police arrested Masq and his relative Zulfiqar from the premises for selling grenades and ammunition. According to sources from Zinda Pir, the weapons are being supplied all over the country. Border military police Wali Muhammad Khan said after an inter-provincial meeting it will be decided whether to conduct an operation in tribal areas against illegal arms.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2011.
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