Mumbai Police: 30% weapons in police armoury are non-functional

The police will face a serious problem if they have to combat an emergency situation wherein weapons are required to combat criminal or terrorist elements. A recent stock taking of the police weapons kept in the armoury has shown that 30% of the weapons are non-functional.

The police chief, taking a serious note of the situation, has sought an explanation from the officials in-charge of the armoury. “It was learnt that out of approximately 1500 9mm pistols and .38 bore revolvers, 500 were found to be defective,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.

These weapons are kept in reserve in the main armoury of the Local Arms Division and are supplied to the police stations whenever required. A senior police officer said that this was a serious issue and should be addressed immediately.

The police sources said that police commissioner Arup Patnaik was fuming when he learnt about the defective weapons and has sought a detailed explanation from additional commissioner of police, Local Arms Division, M Lohia as to what kind of defects are there in the weapon, why the defects were there and if the weapons were being maintained properly.

Patnaik confirmed the issue but refused to comment on the issue.