New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS): The Delhi Police Special Cell has busted an inter-state illegal firearms syndicate and arrested one person in this connection, a Police official said on Monday.
The accused, identified as 60-year-old Kasim Ali, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district, was booked under stringent section 25(8) of the Arms (Amendment) Act, 2019, in which there is provision of a minimum jail sentence of 10 years which can be extended to life imprisonment.
Furnishing details about the case, Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), Jasmeet Singh said the Police were already making efforts to identify the members of the syndicate which was involved in procuring weapons from Sendhwa, Khargone, Dhar and Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh) and supplying them in Delhi-NCR.
"A team of Special Cell was having information about the illegal activities of arms trafficking in Delhi-NCR by the accused Kasim in association with his associates," the DCP added.
A tip-off was received on January 29 that Kasim would come at a specified location in the city to deliver firearms and ammunition to one of his contacts.
Accordingly, a trap was laid and the accused was apprehended.
"During the search by police, seven semi-automatic pistols of .32 calibre, three single-shot pistols of .315 and 20 live cartridges that is, 14 cartridges of .32 bore pistol and six of .315 were recovered from the accused' bag," the official informed.
During interrogation, Kasim disclosed that he had received the pistols and cartridges from an arms manufacturer-cum-supplier in Badwani district of Madhya Pradesh.
The accused revealed that he has been supplying illegal firearms and ammunition in Delhi-NCR, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh for the last 15 years.
According to the police, Kasim used to get pistols from Madhya Pradesh at a lower price and supply them at a higher price to gangsters and criminals in Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
He also revealed that he has supplied more than 500 firearms in Delhi-NCR during the last three years.