Chennai, Sep 25 : More than 2,500 criminals were arrested and over 900 lethal weapons and five guns were seized in a storming operation carried out by the Tamil Nadu police to bring down the crime graph in the State.

A statement from the police headquarters here today said during the last 36 hrs of state-wide operation, as many as 2,512 suspected criminals were arrested by police till this morning and 934 dangerous weapons, including knives and sickles and five country-made guns were seized from them.

Following a couple of murders and beheading incidents in the State, Director General of Police C.Sylendra Babu ordered city and district police chiefs to conduct a storming operation in the state.

Accordingly, the 48-hour operation began on September 23 with simultaneous vehicle checks and raids at the premises of criminals and history-sheeters. In the last 36 hours, a total 16,370 persons with criminal records were subjected to verification. After verification, 2,512 persons were arrested
by police.

Among the arrested, 244 of them have non-bailable warrants issued against them by the courts and 733 were sent to judicial custody as they had been involved in several criminal activities.

The remaining 1,927 persons were released after obtaining security bonds under Sec 110 of CrPC for keeping peace.

The release said the crackdown will continue against those involved in murders and other crimes.(UNI)