Ammunition in hotel: three Italians detained

Three Italians were detained here on Thursday after ammunition and two empty magazines were found in a five-star hotel room, where they stayed earlier this week.

Two of them, Giovani Cecconello and Donato Dngello, were detained in Pune and Giulio Pometto was held by immigration officials at the Mumbai airport.

Twenty-four live cartridges and two magazines of Italian make were found in room no. 448 of Radisson Hotel near the Indira Gandhi International Airport on May 24. The ammunition was found by the staff a few hours after the three, all in their 40s, checked out in the morning.

“The cartridges and magazines were recovered after the housekeeping staff went into the room for cleaning up. The staff heard a strange sound emanating from the air-conditioner and informed their seniors. A mechanic was then called, and he found two polythene bags inside the machine. One of them contained the cartridges and the other had empty magazines and two springs,” a senior police officer said.

Soon after Virender Singh Raghav, in charge of security in the hotel, reported the matter to the police, a case was registered under the Arms Act at the Vasant Kunj (South) station.

The police checked the closed-circuit television camera footage and the footage of baggage scanner. Suspecting their involvement, the police issued a ‘Look Out Circular,' and the three were traced in Maharashtra.

As per the hotel records, the three had checked in at 00.30 a.m. on May 24 and left eight hours later. They work for a petrochemical company in Italy.

A joint team of the Special Cell and the South Delhi Police has been despatched to Maharashtra to interrogate them. “It is yet to be established whether the ammunition and the magazines belong to them. The three have been detained for questioning, as they were the last persons to check out. We have sought the records of those who stayed in the room during the past two months,” the officer said.

In February, two British nationals were caught in the same hotel for aircraft spotting. They were booked under different sections of the Telegraph Act, but let off later.