Tuesday, 09 June 2026 –
A joint vehicle checking operation in the Kanispora area of Baramulla district has led to the arrest of a man and the seizure of two foreign-made pistols, spare magazines, and 13 live rounds of ammunition — raising concerns about a potentially broader illegal weapons supply chain in north Kashmir.
The operation was conducted by Baramulla Police and the Army’s 52 Rashtriya Rifles at Chandsuma near the FCI Godown on June 7. A white Maruti Brezza travelling from Srinagar towards Baramulla was stopped for routine inspection. A detailed search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a Turkish-made CANIK TP9SF METE pistol — a semi-automatic handgun — in a bag belonging to a co-passenger, who could not produce any licence or legal authorisation for possessing the weapon.
The suspect, identified as a resident of Kamalkot in Uri, was arrested and an FIR registered under the Arms Act at Baramulla Police Station. Based on disclosures made during initial questioning, a follow-up operation was conducted on June 8 at a location in Kamalkot. That search, conducted in the presence of an Executive Magistrate and local officials, yielded a second pistol — this one Chinese-made — along with additional magazines and ammunition.
The discovery of foreign-origin weapons — Turkish and Chinese — is notable. Security analysts have long tracked the presence of such firearms in the Kashmir Valley, often linked to cross-border smuggling routes. The fact that two separate recoveries came from the same chain of information points, according to police, to a possible network of illegal arms possession that is still being unravelled. Investigations are ongoing.
