Delhi-UP gun network busted, key supplier from Meerut held

Delhi Police has busted an illegal arms supply chain operating between east Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh with the arrest of three men, including an alleged key weapon supplier from Meerut, after a surveillance-led operation prevented what investigators suspect could have been a planned violent crime.

Police said the crackdown led to the seizure of five firearms, 16 live cartridges, three knives and a car used by the accused. The arrests were made in a two-stage operation beginning in east Delhi and ending with follow-up raids in Dadri and Meerut.

Investigators said the operation was launched after police teams picked up intelligence inputs through technical surveillance and monitoring of suspicious social media activity about the movement of armed men in a vehicle near the CRPF red light on the stretch connecting New Kondli Market to Khoda.

Acting on the inputs, police laid a trap and intercepted the car. Two men travelling in the vehicle, identified as Babu alias Murdari and Raj Kumar, both residents of Ghazipur in east Delhi, were taken into custody. During the search, officers recovered one illegal pistol loaded with two live cartridges from Babu, while Raj Kumar was found carrying a button-operated knife.

Police said the immediate recovery suggested that the duo was moving armed through the city with a possible criminal intent, prompting investigators to widen the probe into the source of the weapons.

A case was registered, and sustained interrogation of the two accused led police to a larger illegal firearms channel supplying weapons from western Uttar Pradesh into Delhi. During questioning, the two men allegedly disclosed that the weapons had been procured through Parvinder, a resident of Meerut who had been supplying firearms to criminal contacts in Delhi and adjoining areas. This shifted the investigation beyond the initial arrests.

Police teams then conducted raids at a location in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh based on the disclosures. During the search, officers recovered one automatic pistol, two country-made pistols and 14 live cartridges, indicating that the accused had access to a stocked supply line rather than isolated weapons. With Parvinder identified as the key supplier, police mounted another operation and tracked him down in Meerut, where he was arrested.

Officials said that after his detention, Parvinder led police to an under-construction plot in Meerut where two more country-made pistols had been concealed. These were also seized. By the end of the operation, investigators had recovered two automatic pistols, three country-made pistols, 16 live rounds, three knives and the car allegedly being used by the accused for movement.

Police suspect the racket was part of a wider illegal arms circulation route that ferried weapons from western Uttar Pradesh into Delhi’s eastern fringe, a corridor long considered vulnerable because of easy inter-state mobility.

Investigators are now trying to establish how many weapons had already been supplied through this network, who the intended buyers were, and whether the firearms were being routed to organised criminals, extortion gangs or local shooters.

The role of Babu and Raj Kumar is also being examined to determine whether they were carriers, purchasers or active users planning an offence in Delhi.