The police have expanded to Maharashtra and Gujarat the probe into the recovery of weapons from the premises of the Cochin International Airport Ltd at Nedumbassery.
A casual labourer at the airport had found a packet containing a clutch of weapons including an air pistol on the premises of CIAL on December 3. The probe was extended outside the State after the investigating officials found that the pistol was purchased from Maharashtra.
The police team will visit Maharashtra and Gujarat to locate the agency that had sold the pistol. They will also check whether there was any bulk purchase of the weapons by those involved in the incident.
The probe was intensified after a dozen live cartridges were found near the parking lot of Terminal 3 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Monday. The cartridges of .38 bore, used in pistols and revolvers, were found by an attendant while cleaning a washroom on the second floor of the parking lot.
The probe into the weapons recovered at Nedumbassery will ascertain whether it had any connection to the New Delhi incident. The personnel are also probing whether there was a kidnapping angle to the incident. The packet had contained an air pistol and pellets used for hunting birds besides drugs used for psychiatric treatment. The police had also recovered a knife from the packet.
