Telangana police have cracked the Secunderabad Cantonment arms heist case and traced the weapons to a location in Hyderabad, . Officers have also confirmed that it was an inside job. Details on the probe’s findings are awaited.

Twelve weapons, including four AK-203 assault rifles, seven pistols and an INSAS rifle, were found stolen from the high-security Secunderabad Cantonment near Hyderabad on the morning of August 31. More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a pair of passive night-vision binoculars were also found missing.

A senior Army officer lodged a police complaint with the Bollaram police station in Malkajgiri commissionerate, saying the theft was detected when the ammunition storage was found open and the locks broken.

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

The probe into the heist revealed that the weapons and ammunition were last physically accounted for at 6 pm on August 30, before the closing of Kote – Keeper of Technical Equipment – and Battalion Magazine.

“The Kote is always guarded and the guards maintain that they have not seen a break-in. Also, when we checked the records of the armoury, it was found that these were not maintained,” a senior police officer said, adding that weapons in an armoury are supposed to be accounted for each evening.

had earlier reported that senior Army officers questioned a senior officer from one of the units of the 20 Madras Regiment in connection with the arms heist. Telangana Police officers also questioned the officer.


The officer was questioned because the armoury’s books or registers were allegedly not maintained for months.