The Valiathura police on Saturday morning arrested Shan Mohammad, 30, a resident of Perinad in Kollam, for carrying five live bullets in his luggage while trying to board a private airliner at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport here.
The bullets were recovered from him in the baggage scan at the airport, when he was about to board a Muscat-bound flight at 8 a.m.
According to the police, the airport authorities alerted the Valiathura police after detecting the bullet of .22 mm calibre.
When questioned, Shan, who is working with a German firm in Muscat, said that the bag belonged to a colleague who was from Andhra Pradesh and that he was ignorant about the bullets in the bag. He told interrogators that he borrowed the bag from his friend, when he came to Kerala last week to attend to a medical emergency of his father.
Jawahar Janardanan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shanghumughom, told The Hindu that they were examining the veracity of his statements. The statements raised many doubts as the bag was scanned in Muscat and the airport here on his arrival.
A team from the Intelligence Bureau and other Central agencies questioned him for several hours.
“We are going to verify the claims made by him and check his antecedents,” he said.
The man has been arrested under the Arms Act and will be produced before the magistrate on Sunday.
