KATHMANDU: Nepal Police (NP) has seized 19 small arms since September 17, 2009 in the Kathmandu Valley, a police official said today.

“Among the 19 small arms, eight have been seized from daily wage earners,” Spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office SSP Madhav Prasad Nepal said.

“Twenty-three such workers have been arrested from Anand guest house (Lagaan), Bagbagar, Baneshwor, Teen Thana, Chalnakhel, Manamaiju, Vanasthali and Jorpati. These workers are labourers and porters by profession”, Nepal added. All of them are between the age of 17 and 30 and they originally hail form other districts in Nepal.

“Apart from the weapons, we have also seized bullets,” the official said.

“The weapons and ammunition include a Petoor Bertiand 27710 pistol, one magazine, four rounds of live 9mm bullets, a USA-made pistol with its magazine and three rounds of 9mm bullets, two rounds of OFU 7.62 bullets, two USA-7.62 bullets, another USA-made pistol with its magazine and a bullet, and a Riksar revolver,” Nepal added.

Most of the youngsters carried these weapons with them with a view to looting people, while some of them told the police that they carried the arms just to flaunt them among friends and yet some of them said they carried them for their safety, Nepal said.

“As these young people are not educated, they do not want to go back to their families in the districts,” he said. “They also don’t want to plough the fields back home and as such they came to Kathmandu looking for greener pastures,” he added.

Police have intensified an operation to seize these types of weapons.