New Year has brought bad tidings for the city police as the national Capital has been rocked by seven murders during last 48 hours. Investigators said illegally procured weapons are being used by criminals. The Delhi Police in 2018 claimed to have busted many illegal factories of country made arms in the NCR, though the rise in use of illegal weapons was much more higher than 2017.
According to data, it is clearly visible that Delhi has become a transit hub for arms smuggling and criminals using these illegal arms. Delhi police up to November 2018 has registered 1446 under the Arms Act and recovered 1828 fire arms, 6172 ammunition, 376 sharp edge weapon and 1790 criminals were arrested with illegal arms.
Whereas data compared to past two years there is a steep rise in use of these illegal weapons by criminals in Delhi. According to data in 2017 993 cases were reported, 1130 fire arms were recovered from 1186 criminals arrested in Delhi. In 2016 the use of illegal weapon was more down with 688 cases reported and police recovered 775 illegal fire arms from culprits.
“Be it a snatchers or a gangster the weapons is cheap and easily available to these criminals. If we see the crime graph most of the criminals arrested are between 20 to 35 age group who either to show their influence in the area use these weapons or drugs addict who often use these weapons for theft and snatching in Delhi,” said Sangram Singh, advocate at Delhi.
Seeing the increasing cases of arms smuggling, the police has launched plans to tighten the noose on suppliers and has arrested some smugglers and manufacturers of illegal weapons. In spite of this, arms smugglers and criminals using these weapons are active in Delhi.
Speaking on anonymity a police official said that Delhi Police without support from neighbouring States police cannot curb the entire weapon syndicate. “In Uttar Pradesh one can see these illegal weapon sale rackets are going on blatantly. In Ardhana village near Meerut there are many illegal arms manufacturing units. In Mewat there is also illegal manufacturing unit. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan police have to pull up their socks also then only these illegal manufacturing and supply can be zeroed,” said the official adding that these arms peddlers smuggle guns and ammunition in scooters, bike every hour and police cannot keep eye on each and every vehicle.
Earlier in 2018, Delhi Police special cell on specific inputs have busted an illegal factory running in Meerut. “Meerut cannot be denied, ammunitions are being sold illegally by the owners of gun houses,” said the official on anonymity.
The areas in Delhiwhere arms have majorly been supplied are Alipur, Bawana, GT Karnal Road, Prashant Vihar, Rohini, Najafgarh, Jaitpur, Badarpur, Gazipur, Anand Vihar, Vivek Vihar, Seemapuri, Mangolpuri, Madangir, Nand Nagri and Jafrabad.
Country made weapons’ price vary
As per investigation by The Pioneer the country made weapons, include single shot firearms, sixers, pistols, single barrel gun, double barrel gun, semiautomatic rifles resembling INSAS and AK-47.
The price of these weapons vary according to their make, outer look and raw material used.
The country made single-shot pistol can be procured in between Rs 3000 to Rs 7000 depending upon the make and material (rod/barrel) used. While a pistol or a revolver costs in between Rs 15-25 thousand.
Similarly other weapons like semi-automatic rifles including the AK series can cost anything in between Rs 30-50 thousand.
Weapon Firing Incidents so far
JANUARY 5: Following a rivalry a 34-year-old man was shot dead by four assailants in day light at Delhi’s Rohini’s KN Katju Marg area on Saturday.
JANUARY5: A 35-year-old factory supervisor was shot dead at the same factory he was working in Jhilmil Industrial area at Shahdara district by unidentified assailants on Saturday evening.
JANUARY 6: Two men, including a 21-year-old cab driver, were allegedly shot dead and their bodies dumped beside the Nangloi-Najafgarh road in Baprola area of outer Delhi’s Ranhola
JANUARY 6: A 30-year-old man was shot dead after he allegedly threw a stone at a pet dog in Delhi’s Welcome on Sunday evening
JANUARY 6: A 25-year-old Delhi University student was shot at thrice by 3 unidentified car-borne assailants outside his home in outer Delhi’s Alipur village on Sunday morning.