Interstate arms racket busted in Delhi, five held

New Delhi [India], February 3 : Special Cell of Delhi police busted three interstate firearms syndicates and arrested five people including four traffickers and one supplier along with recovery of 38 illicit pistols during raids, the police said on Friday.
The police have also recovered 16 spare magazines and 36 live cartridges.
The accused have been identified as Paramjeet Sehrawat (33), a resident of Delhi, Sanjay (29), a resident of Madhya Pradesh, Ram Vishnu (23) and Anil (22) both native of Rajasthan and Rahul Kumar (27), a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
Police said the arrested accused are members of three interstate firearms syndicates run by a Madhya Pradesh-based illegal firearms supplier.
An official familiar with the matter said that in view of the use of illegal firearms in various crimes in Delhi and adjoining states, the Special Cell of Delhi police is working round-the-clock to thwart the nefarious designs of such anti-national elements.
"Accordingly, information about illegal firearms suppliers and their associates active in Delhi and NCR are being collected through various sources. During the investigation of various cases, it transpired that firearms suppliers of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan are in touch with illicit firearms suppliers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and procuring illegal firearms from them," the official added.
"The Special Team launched three drives against illegal firearm users and traffickers in the state and concerted efforts were being made to identify such members of the syndicate," an official of the special cell team said.
"In 1st operation, a team of Inspectors Vivekanand Pathak and Kuldeep Singh of Special Cell of Northern Range (NR) laid a trap near Begampur Chowk, of Delhi's Rohini area and two key members of an arms syndicate, namely Ram Vishnu and Anil were apprehended along with 15 illicit pistols of .32 bore," the official said.
"In 2nd operation, a team of Inspectors Arvind Kumar and Rakesh Kumar of Special Cell/NR laid a trap at Outer Ring Road towards Delhi's Mukarba Chowk and apprehended accused Rahul Kumar along with 16 pistols of .32 bore with 16 spare magazines," officials added.
Whereas the officials further informed that during the 3rd operation, a team of Inspectors Ravinder Kumar Tyagi and Ajit Singh of Special Cell of New Delhi Range (NDR) apprehended another illicit arms and ammunition supplier namely Paramjeet Sehrawat along with 2 pistols of .30 bore with 4 live cartridges, 3 pistols of .32 bore with 7 live cartridges, 6-single shot pistols with 25 live cartridges of 8 mm.
A case under section 25 of the Arms Act was registered by the Delhi police and the accused was arrested, the police said.
The officials of the special team informed that during the interrogation, accused Ram Vishnu and Anil made revelations that they used to procure illegal weapons from one Sanjay resident of Manawar (Madhya Pradesh) and sell them to criminals of Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan.
The team further added that at the instance of the above accused Ram Vishnu and Anil, a source of illicit weapon namely Sanjay was arrested from Gandhwani, District Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) along with 04 pistols of .32 bore.
"Interrogation of the arrested persons have further revealed that they used to purchase semi-automatic pistol at a lower rate from MP and sell it at a higher rate to gangsters/criminals in Delhi NCR. All the accused persons have been remanded into police custody. A total of 38 illicit pistols, 16 Spare Magazines and 36 live cartridges were also recovered," an official familiar with the matter said.
Further investigation is underway to identify all the forward and backward linkages of this arms and ammunition network, police said.