Ahead of the upcoming New Year celebrations, the Special Cell of Delhi Police has recovered a cache of 35 semi automatic pistols. The firearms were being smuggled into the Capital for onward distribution amongst local gangsters and criminals. In recent times, frequent use of illicit firearms in robbery, snatching, murder etc have been reported. The Special Cell, in the current year has seized 234 such firearms and has arrested 33 accused.
In the first action on December 14, the accused identified as Chetender was apprehended near Akshardham with 25 sophisticated pistols in his possession. Interrogation revealed that the accused had procured the firearms from Khargone, Madhya Pradesh. Chetender was collecting orders from clients and once a consignment order was finalised, he used to travel to Khargone to collect the consignment. Accused has previously been involved in a similar case of possession of illegal arms in the area of Police Station Sadabad, District Hathras, UP.
In another operation, three accused identified as Ishtyag (25), Salamuddin (21) and Bhila Singh (42) were arrested and 10 pistols were recovered from them. The interrogation has revealed that Bhila Singh was working for Rajpal, a resident of Madhya Pradesh and a major supplier of illegal firearms to Delhi & NCR. Accused Ishtyag was lured into the crime by his cousin Imran who is also an arms peddler and accused Salamudddin was roped in this trade by Ishtyag and Imraan. This syndicate had pumped in huge number of illegal firearms in Delhi- NCR.