The arrested are Yam Bahadur Thapa, 33, of Taklung -3 of Gorkha and Alisha Gurung, 30, of Choprang-1 of Gorkha. They were arrested following a tip-off from their rented apartment at Mitranagar-29. [break]
The police also recovered 53 rounds of bullets from them. Thapa had bought a sophisticated German made rifle GSG-5 A357791 from Sadikchhya Gauchan on May 8, 2012 and the license for the weapon was renewed from Kathmandu District Administration Office with validity till May 2013.
Thapa, who was company commander of the People´s Liberation Army till 2002, is currently a state committee member of the UCPN (Maoist). According to sources, Thapa had rejoined the UCPN (Maoist) after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. He is also alleged to have close ties with notorious gangster Chakre Milan. Also, his wife Alisha is currently the central committee member of Tamuwan Rastriya Mukti Morcha, a sister wing of the party.
Chief of Metropolitan Police Range Office Rana Bahadur Chand displays the rifle and pistol seized from the ex-Maoist combatant couple in Kathmandu on Wednesday. (Photo: Bhaswor Ojha)
Chief of Metropolitan Police Range Office, Kathmandu SSP Rana Bahadur Chand said Thapa had been using the weapon to frighten people. “Following complaints from various people, we raided his rented apartment and found the weapons. We are further investigating the case.”
During the preliminary investigation, police have not found Thapa to have misused the licensed weapon. He has claimed that he had kept the weapons for hunting and that he had never misused them. The two have been sent to seven days in custody for further investigation. If proven guilty, the couple may be tried under Arms and Ammunition Act-1963.
The government has so far issued over 35,000 licenses to individuals for keeping firearms for personal use. But the authorities have neither maintained proper records of such firearms nor have devised any effective mechanism to monitor their use, said police officials.
On the other hand, the government has begun a campaign to collect illegal weapons and has given a deadline of April 29 for people to surrender illegal firearms in their possession.
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