Plain-clothes cops escape mob fury

A trap laid by the Pydhonie police to catch arm dealers near Masjid Bunder railway station on Thursday took an ugly turn when the officials became victims of mistaken identity.

Taking them for local goons bent on making trouble, four policemen in plain clothes were surrounded by an irate mob. However, the officials reacted quickly and showed their Id-cards to prove their identity.

According to the police, one of their informants told them that three persons would be arriving from Delhi with a cache of arms to sell in Mumbai. Accordingly, a police team comprising four police officers and 12 constables disguised themselves as hawkers and were waiting for the arm smugglers.

“Our informant identified the trio as soon as the arrived outside the railway station. This was near 10 am. On searching them we recovered the firearms,” said Shamsher Pathan, senior inspector.

However, soon after, a mob started to gather around them, he said. “We told them we were police officials and had to show them our Id-cards to stop them from attacking us.”

The three arrested have been identified as Dineshkumar Bharti, 23, Naushad Shamshad Shaikh, 21, and Naeem Ahmed Nilgar, 20, all hailing from Delhi. The police have seized four country-made revolvers and eight live cartridges from them.

“During interrogation, they said that they had received the arms consignment from two persons - Imran and Jimmy - in Delhi. We will be sending the trio’s photographs and fingerprints to our Delhi counterparts to get more information about them,” said inspector Gulab More.