The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In the course of solving a minor burglary case, the police in Paro have recovered a total of 57 numbers of live ammunition (bullets) from a 52-year-old suspect, who was alleged of burglarizing a general shop in Paro town on May 29.
The ammunitions belonged to SLR and 303 rifles.
The suspect, a freelance carpenter by profession, was hired by one of the shopkeeper to repair the door of his shop in the Paro town.
The officer-in-charge (OC) of Paro Police confirmed the suspect broke down the door to get inside the shop.
The suspect stole Nu 40,000 worth of mobile phone vouchers, a case of beer, and cash amounting to Nu 30,000.
When the owner of the shop noticed that his shop was robbed, he called the suspect to repair the door of his shop since he was a carpenter, and had no clue that he was the very burglar who damaged his door and ransacked his shop. The owner of the shop also notified the police.
The carpenter was named the prime suspect by the police. After a thorough check of the suspect’s house, the police recovered some of the used stolen vouchers and found the box where the ammunitions were hidden.
The OC said, “On examining, we found out that the ammunitions were live (un-used) and on questioning about the ammunitions, the suspect said that he was in militia back in 1999 and he did not deposit the ammunitions back with the concerned authority.”
However, police were able to recover voucher worth Nu 5,000 and a total sum of Nu 2,245.
It was also learnt that the suspect has sold some vouchers to other shops and lost the money in gambling.
The ammunitions had remained with the suspect for the last 20 years.
The suspect was arrested on June 4. He has three children from an ex- wife, and is married again. He is from Kangpara in Trashigang.
The Police OC said that the suspect will be charged for illegal possession of arms and ammunition besides the burglary offence.
The offence of burglary is a fourth degree felony and third degree if the suspects carry deadly weapons and try to inflict bodily injury to the others during the crime.
The section 481of Penal Code of Bhutan (2004), states that the offence of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, explosive, or other lethal weapons shall be a felony of the fourth degree.
Meanwhile, the case is still under investigation.
Chencho Dema
