550 live cartridges seized from duo
With the arrest of two persons, Delhi Police Special Cell on Friday claimed to have busted an inter-State gang involved in supplying ammunition to criminals in Western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and its peripherals. Police have also recovered 550 live cartridges from the possession of the duo. Police said that the accused in last seven to eight months had supplied around 2500 live cartridges to criminals in Delhi-NCR.
The accused have been identified as Akhilesh Kumar (40) a resident of district Etah in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Kunwar Pal (29) a resident of district Mainpuri, UP. Police said that the accused used to sell these cartridges to the criminals at a price ranging from Rs 450- to Rs 800- per cartridge.
According to Pramod Singh Kushwaha, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), on June 19, specific inputs were received that Akhilesh Kumar along with an associate would come near Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Kalyanpuri in Delhi for the delivery of illegal ammunitions.
“Acting on the tip-off a trap was laid and the duo was apprehended. During search of the bags they were carrying 375 cartridges of 7.65 mm bore and 175 cartridges of 0.315 Bore were recovered,” said the DCP.
“During interrogation, the accused Kanwar Pal revealed that He was in dire need of money and approached his relative Dhirender Singh, a resident of Firozabad UP, an illicit ammunition trafficker, for financial help. Dhirender asked him to join his gang to traffic illicit ammunition in NCR and UP West for monetary consideration,” said the DCP.
“The accused Akhilesh Kumar, during interrogation, revealed that in mid 2018, his associate Kunwar Pal introduced him to his relative Dhirender who offered him to pay Rs 3000- to Rs. 5000 per trip for trafficking illicit ammunition in NCR and UP West. He has since then remained associated with Kunwar Pal in this illegal trafficking,” said the DCP adding that further investigation is on to identify all the forward and backward linkages of this arms and ammunition network.