Pakistan honey-trap angle surfaces in arms theft case probe | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: The investigation into the theft and attempted sale of firearms from the Madras Regiment in Bollarum has taken a new turn, with police suspecting that one of the accused was approached online by Pakistan-based honey-trap operatives after falsely projecting himself as an Air Force Station (AFS) employee on social media.Police said Birbal Shaw (27), a sugarcane juice vendor near Barrackpore Cantonment who also worked as a pump operator at the AFS in Barrackpore, had attracted the attention of suspicious social media accounts by portraying himself online as an Air Force employee.“He proudly claimed on Instagram account to be an AFS worker from Barrackpore. He was in contact with unknown women on Instagram who inquired about the AFS activities. We suspect that they could be Pakistan intelligence operators who might have later realised that he did not have any useful information,” said an investigator.According to the police, Birbal and his associate Avi Dey alias Obi (32), a plumber who allegedly has links to the illegal firearms trade, had sold a country-made pistol to the main accused, U Mallesh, an ex-havildar, in 2022 when he was posted in Barrackpore.Investigators also found that Birbal and Avi Dey were previously associated with a prominent political party in Barrackpore before shifting allegiance to another party.“Now they both changed their affiliations and started working for another party. Avi Dey, who has an Arms Act case registered against him at Khardah police station in West Bengal in 2012, was contacted by Mallesh with a proposal to supply stolen firearms. Avi Dey claimed that he is not into dealing with firearms and we have to verify if he had contacted any potential buyer,” police said.The probe further revealed that Mallesh had independently searched online for potential firearms dealers. Apart from contacting Birbal and Avi Dey, he allegedly reached out to an Instagram user who frequently posted photographs of firearms.“The user said that he only sells air guns and not factory-made firearms. Among the 37 accounts Mallesh follows, one account is of a person claiming to be arms and ammunition dealer from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan who puts up videos with factory-made arms including assault rifles and pistols. But before he could make any meaningful contact with such people, we arrested him,” said an investigator.Police said Mallesh’s Instagram account had no posts and only 28 followers.During questioning, Mallesh also claimed that his batchmate and co-accused K Praveen (37), a havildar posted with the 16 Battalion of the Madras Regiment in Tamil Nadu, had expressed interest in procuring an illegal firearm. Praveen allegedly paid Mallesh ₹15,000 after learning that he had obtained an illegal weapon from Birbal and Avi Dey for ₹10,000.Investigators are now examining digital evidence, communication records and social media activity of all the accused to establish the extent of the network involved in the theft and intended sale of stolen weapons.“We are analysing the evidence gathered so far including the social media activities of the accused and soon take a call on how many of the seven recently arrested accused have to be taken into police custody for further probe,” said a police officer.