NEW DELHI, May 14:
With the arrest of a truck driver and recovery of 24 semi-automatic pistols from him, Delhi Police has unearthed a new modus operandi where truckers are being used to smuggle illegal weapons made in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh for criminal elements in Delhi NCR and Mewat region.
Khargone, Sendhwa and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh have emerged as the new hub of illegal weapons after Bihar’s Munger.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested 45 persons in the last one year in connection with illegal gun-running from this region and has recovered 285 sophisticated pistols of various caliber, seven rifles, 1090 cartridges of various bore and an improvised AK-47 Rifle.
“In the present case, accused identified as Naim (21), a resident of Mathura, UP was arrested by the Special Cell on Tuesday following a tip of from Sidhartha Extn. Ring Road. A haul of 24 semi-automatic sophisticated pistols of 7.65 MM was recovered from him,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.
One container truck used for the transportation of the weapons has also been seized. Some of the recovered pistols are engraved with “MADE IN ENGLAND” mark and the rest with “MADE IN USA”. During interrogation he revealed that previously he has supplied illegal weapons 3-4 times in Mathura, NCR and Delhi, he added.
A team of Delhi Police travelled through UP West, UP East, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh region to collect information regarding the modus operandi and area of gangs involved in gun-running. The team got great success in the last one year and arrested several persons with arms and busted rackets.
“However, recently we observed that there has been a lull in such activities for quite some time and that the old methods were not working. However, the use of such weapons is continuing in Delhi and NCR. This compelled the team to re-analyze the whole strategy and to work hard to find out the possible reason behind it,” said Yadav.
After sincere efforts put in by the team, it learnt that suppliers and receivers of these illegal weapons have changed their mode of supply of these weapons. They joined hands with some transporters/truck drivers of Maharastra-Delhi highway, who ply their trucks via Dhar, MP, he added.
On Tuesday, tip off was received that one Naim would come near Gurudwara Bala Sahib, Sidhartha Extn, Ring Road around 9 PM along with his truck to deliver a huge cache of semi-automatic weapons to his contact.
Accordingly, a trap was laid. A truck came and the driver alighted from the container carrying a bag. He waited for sometime. When no one turned up, he got inside the container and as he was about to leave, he was overpowered and apprehended.
A total of 24 pistols were recovered from the bag carried by Naim. A thorough search of the vehicle was conducted to ensure that nothing was left to be recovered from the container. A case under appropriate sections of law has been registered at Special Cell Police Station against the accused person. Interrogation revealed that Naim has been working for one Mufeed of his own village, who is the main receiver of illegal arms from Dhar (MP) and further supplies them to the gangsters/criminals of Delhi and NCR and other parts of the country. (PTI)
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