3 Italians held after cartridges found in 5-star hotel

New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) Three Italians were detained in
Mumbai and Pune Thursday morning after 24 cartridges were
found from a room in a 5-star hotel near Indira Gandhi
International airport where they were staying, police said.
Twenty-four live cartridges and two dismantled empty
magazines of Italian make were recovered from Room No 448 of
Radisson Hotel by its staff on the evening of May 24.
The trio - Giovanni Ceccomello, Donato Dngello and Giulio
Ponetto - were detained at Pune and Mumbai airports, Deputy
Commissioner of Police (South) H G S Dhaliwal said here.
52-year-old Ponetto was planning to fly to Munich in
Germany by LH 765 Lufthansa Airlines to evade arrest, Joint
Police Commissioner (Law and Order) Rajnish Seth said in
Mumbai.
He was handed over to Sahar Airport police by immigration
officers at the Mumbai airport, he said.
The Pune police said the two others were picked up from a
hotel in Shivajinagar area of the city where they were staying
as sales representatives of a company.
The Italians, working with petrochemical company Petronas,
had checked into three rooms in Radisson Hotel on May 24 and
left after seven hours, Dhaliwal said.
"The cartridges were recovered when hotel staff went
inside the rooms for cleaning. They noticed that there was an
unusual sound from the air-conditioner. A mechanic found the
cartridges in a polythene bag in the AC shaft," Dhaliwal said.
Soon after, police was informed and a case registered
under the Arms Act and CCTV footages as well as footages of
baggage scanner were checked, a senior police official said.
"From this, we found that similar material was in the
laptop bag of the Italians. A look out notice was issued
yesterday and they were traced to Mumbai and Pune," he said.
Asked whether there was any oversight on part of the hotel
staff, Dhaliwal said, "It appears so." However, they
immediately informed police when the cartridges were detected,
he said.
In February, two British nationals were caught from the
same hotel for plane spotting. They were later let off. PTI