Updated: April 26, 2024 7:50 PM IST 
Sandeshkhali Raids: The Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) Friday raided multiple places in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali and seized a huge cache of arms, ammunition, and explosives from the troubled enclave, which has been on edge since January this year.
The searches were conducted in connection with the January attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team by a mob allegedly instigated by now-suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh, officials said.
They said that CBI teams, accompanied by bomb detection squads, the National Security Guard (NSG), along with personnel central paramilitary forces and the West Bengal Police personnel, raided the Sandeshkhali village in the North 24 Parganas district, during which a huge cache of foreign-made arms, includings pistols, were recovered.
Officials said the NSG units had been tasked with detecting and handling explosives, if any were found during the operation, while CBI sleuths spread across Sandeshkhali to search targeted locations.
#WATCH | CBI is conducting multiple raids in West Bengal in connection with the Sandeshkhali case.
Visuals from North 24 Parganas. pic.twitter.com/iXhD1w76zG
— ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2024
“The swift operation, till afternoon, resulted in the seizure of a huge cache of small arms and ammunition, and these included foreign-made pistols”, they said.
#WestBengal | A bomb squad team of the National Security Guard (NSG) arrives at Agarhati village in #Sandeshkhali
More details are awaited. pic.twitter.com/aIm1jdWLmU
— DD News (@DDNewslive) April 26, 2024
A senior police official in Kolkata said five teams of CBI officials, with support from the West Bengal Police, the central forces and the NSG, conducted a search at a house in Sarberia, and recovered firearms from the premises.
“We had received specific information regarding the stockpiling of this huge cache of arms and ammunition, and explosives. A total of 12 firearms, including foreign-made pistols, have been seized. Explosives stacked inside boxes have also been found. The search operation is underway,” the official told news agency PTI.
Citing CBI sources, PTI reported that the house belongs to one Abu Taleb Mollah, a relative of Shahjahan Sheikh, adding that it was unclear why such a huge cache of arms and ammunition, and explosives were stockpiled.
The house, which was cordoned off by security forces, was built amid water bodies used for fish farming. Central forces were used metal detectors outside the house to check whether more arms and ammunition were buried.
A robotic device was also deployed for the purpose.
An official statement by the CBI said that the following items were seized during the searches in the Sandeshkhali enclave
The searches were launched in connection with the three FIRs that the CBI had registered related to the attack on the team of ED officials in Sandeshkhali on January 5 when it had gone to raid the premises of the now-arrested TMC leader in connection with an alleged ration scam.
On the orders of the Calcutta High Court, the central agency had registered three FIRs related to the incidents on January 5.
The FIRs pertain to the alleged attack on ED officers by a mob on the complaint by officers, allegations against ED officials levelled by the guard of suspended TMC leader Sheikh and a suo motu case registered by the Nazat police station about the attack on ED officers.
Sheikh was arrested by the West Bengal Police on February 29 in connection with the attack.
After the attack by a mob of around 1,000 people in which three ED officials were injured, a deputy director of the agency had given a complaint to the superintendent of police, Basirhat.
(With PTI inputs)
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