New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) The Special Cell of Delhi Police have busted an illegal firearm syndicate in the national capital and arrested four of its active members just 10 days ahead of the Republic Day.
Eighteen pistols, which included 10 semi-automatic pistols with 10 spare magazines (total 20 magazines) and eight single shot pistols, were recovered from their possession.
The accused were identified as Rohit Kumar (26) Pawan Kumar (28), Sunny (21) and Harshdeep (19).
According to the police, the accused were booked under stringent sections of Arms (Amendment) Act, in which there is provision of minimum sentence of 10 years and it can be extended up to life imprisonment.
P.S. Kushwah, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said that in view of forthcoming celebration of Republic Day in Delhi, increased surveillance by the teams of the Special Cell was mounted on the firearms suppliers of Madhya Pradesh who were found frequently indulging in supplying firearms and ammunition in Delhi in the past.
“Requisite intelligence in this regard was collected and sources were deployed to gather more information about various firearms syndicates,” said Kushwah.
The Special Cell received a tip-off on January 13 after which it conducted a raid and three accused people — Rohit Kumar, Pawan Kumar and Harshdeep Singh were apprehended beneath Barapullah elevated road near Nizamuddin Railway Station in Delhi when they were exchanging the firearms. The fourth accused Sunny who was the handler of Harshdeep was also arrested from a nearby area.
Kushwah said the arrested firearms suppliers had received the consignments of the recovered pistols from two firearms suppliers of Sendhwa and Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh.
“Sunny and Harshdeep Singh had procured the pistols from an arms supplier of Burhanpur. Rohit and Pawan had procured the pistols from a person namely Sardar of Sendhwa,” the official said.
During interrogation, the accused people disclosed that they used to procure semi-automatic and single shot pistols from Madhya Pradesh, which they would further sell to criminals in Delhi-NCR and other states.
It was also revealed that the accused were active in Delhi-NCR since last four years.
It was further revealed that the arrested firearms suppliers used to carry new handsets and new SIM cards every time. After collecting the consignments of firearms, they used to travel by bus from Indore to their respective destinations and their modus operandi was to frequently change the buses on the way, the official added.
–IANS
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