In a significant operation against illegal gun runners, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police not only busted a well-heeled racket but also recovered 99 sophisticated pistols. The pistols were manufactured in Munger’s notorious illegal gun factories and are very effective when it comes to firing. Investigators were astonished to notice the finesse that was used in manufacturing these illegal weapons that most of the gangs in the National Capital Region (NCR) use. The consignment was smuggled from Bihar’s Munger district. Two members of the gang were intercepted on Tuesday near Shashri Park in North East district when they were travelling in an ambassador car. The accused have been identified as Niranjan Mishra and Feroz Alam.
“There was a specific information about a gang that was involved in the illegal racket of gun running. It was learnt that the weapons that were mostly in the form of six round revolvers of .32 bore were being delivered to criminals active in the national Capital and its adjoining areas. They supplied weapons to almost every part of the country. The duo confessed that they were frequenting Delhi and its peripheral areas to supply such consignments every month in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Delhi and NCR. All sophisticated pistols that were recovered bear the mark “ARMY SUPPlY ONlY”, “MADE IN USA,” said Deputy Commissioner of Special Cell Sanjeev Kumar.
Acting on the tip-off that a huge consignment of illegal weapons was to be supplied in an Ambassador car in Sonia Vihar, a team of Special cell led by ACP SK Giri, laid the trap on Wednesday. A cream coloured Ambassador car was intercepted and was scanned by the sleuths. The smugglers had used cavity in below the headlight of the car to hide the weapons. They were brought to Special Cell office at Bharat Nagar and put to sustained interrogation. They disclosed that the weapon was procured from Bihar’s Munger district and then sold to various criminals active in Delhi and NCR area. They initially tried to dodge the officers on some pretext but could not succeed and ultimately revealed that they used inbuilt capsule cavity in the headlights of the car to transport and supply the weapons. A thorough search resulted in the recovery of 99 pistols and 198 magazines from the ambassador Car.
Following the orders of the Commissioner of Police, an in-house study into the growing use of sophisticated firearms over the previous 4-5 years in the commission of violent crimes in Delhi, a senior police official said. The study revealed that in most of the cases, it was illicit firearms manufactured in Munger which were being smuggled into Delhi by organised criminal gangs based in Meerut, Kanpur, Allahabad and other places. Alerted by these revelations, specific task was given to police teams to trace, locate and apprehend such organised criminal rackets. Accordingly a few teams of Special Cell worked diligently and relentlessly by deploying informers in and around Meerut, Baghpat and other places in UP and specifically in Munger, Bihar.
Subsequently seven gun runners were arrested by Special Cell in 2012. 28 pistols or revolvers were seized in all during the same period in its offensive against Munger made weapons. Besides, raids were also conducted in Munger with the help of the local police in which three pistols, 13 semi-finished pistols, 20 cartridges, a lathe machine and various implements used for manufacturing of weapons and 200 Kgs. of raw materials for manufacturing of weapons were seized. Nine persons have been arrested by the Munger Police for the illegal arms factory.
During the current year, 147 Munger made weapons have already been seized till date by the Special Cell. Four interstate gangs have been arrested, the official added.
Previous year, 728 fire arms of different make were seized by Delhi Police which is in line with its crime control strategy of keeping supply of illicit weapons under control for checking violent crimes in Delhi.