Delhi Police bust interstate illegal arms and ammunition supply cartel, five held

New Delhi [India], December 29 : Delhi Police Special Cell has busted an interstate illicit arms and ammunition supply cartel by arresting five of its key members, said the police.
The arrested accused have been identified as Kapil Dev, 43, Akhikesh Kumar, 36, Lurak Kumar, 29, Raghubir Singh, 45, and Manoj Kumar, 34.
According to Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, HGS Dhaliwal, an information about suppliers of illegal firearms and ammunition and their associates active in Delhi/NCR is being collected through various sources.
Further, during the investigation of different cases, it transpired that the firearms traffickers in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Bihar are in touch with firearms suppliers of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh and are procuring illegal firearms and ammunition from them.
The persistent efforts made by the TYR team paid off when specific input about the presence of a key member of the syndicate at Sarai Kale Khan Bus Terminal was received.
Consequently, a team of Inspectors Rahul Kumar and Vineet Kumar Tewatia of Trans Yamuna Range (TYR)/Special Cell laid a trap near Sarai Kale Khan Bus Terminal, and one important member of the arms syndicate, namely Lurak Kumar, a resident of Khagariya Bihar, was apprehended on December 16, 2023, along with six illicit country-made pistols and 200 live cartridges of .315 bore, said the police.
On the instance of the accused Lurak Kumar, the other key members of this syndicate, including the kingpin Kapil Dev Yadav alias Malik Yadav alias Baba, were arrested from different parts of the country.
Kapil Dev Yadav and Akhilesh Kumar have been involved in the trafficking of illicit arms and ammunition for over 18 months.
According to the police, Kapil Yadav would provide labourers from Khagaria, Bihar at different cold storages situated in the Etah and Shikohabad areas of Uttar Pradesh, whereas, Akhilesh Kumar would work as a labourer at a cold store. Being a contractor, Kapil Yadav had a good reputation in the area, and he was in contact with the local farmers.
One Devji alias Dibba resident of Alauli, Bihar, who earlier worked as a labourer with Akhilesh, met Kapil and Akhilesh and told them that he purchases country-made pistols from Rabbani resident of Munger, Bihar and sells them on a good margin, but was unable to arrange live cartridges for the firearms. Devji asked them to arrange. 315 bore cartridges from Etah, Uttar Pradesh, as it was quite a profitable job.
Kapil Yadav asked his associate Manoj for arranging live cartridges of .315 bore, who in turn asked his known Raghuvir, who previously worked at a gun house in Etah. Raghubir asked his known gun house operators to provide him with live cartridges of .315 bore in bulk.
The owner of a gun house agreed to provide the live cartridges in bulk at a rate of Rs. 190 per cartridge. Manoj, Kapil Dev Yadav, and Akhilesh decided to sell the cartridges to Devji at a high price and agreed to share the profit among them. In June 2023, Devji Yadav was caught by local police in an NDPS Act case.
Meanwhile, one person, namely Salman, a member of the Hashim Baba gang, contacted Kapil Dev Yadav and asked him to supply arms and ammunition at a lucrative rate, i.e., Rs. 15,000 per piece for a single-shot pistol and Rs. 550 per piece for a .315 bore live cartridge. Hence, he agreed to supply arms and ammunition to Salman in Delhi and sent the carrier Lurak Kumar to Delhi to deliver this consignment of illicit arms and ammunition to Salman.
Kapil Dev Yadav hails from Khagaria, Bihar. He is illiterate and belongs to a poor family. He has two sons and one daughter. He would provide labourers for cold storages in the areas of Shikohabad and Etah, Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Kumar also hails from Khagaria, Bihar. He is illiterate and belongs to a poor family. He would work as a labourer at a cold storage in Shikohabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Lurak Kumar, too, hails from Khagaria, Bihar. He is illiterate and belongs to a poor family. He works as a labourer at a brick kiln in Bihar. Manoj Kumar hails from Etah, Uttar Pradesh. He is a farmer and belongs to a middle-class family. Raghuvir hails from Etah, Uttar Pradesh. He is a graduate and belongs to a poor family. He would work at a gun house in Etah and is currently the caretaker of Das Market in the city, said the police.
Further investigation is in progress to establish all the forward and backward linkages of this network, said the police.