Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 21 (IANS): A 23-year-old youth has been arrested by UP ATS from Babupurwa in Kanpur on charges of a gun-running racket.

Six semi-automatic .32 bore pistols, 12 magazines and 20 cartridges have been recovered from the accused, Abhishek Pal, said ATS sleuths.

Inspector General ATS G.K. Goswami said, "Abhishek's aide Anil Kumar Maurya managed to escape. The two belong to Amethi and had come to Kanpur to hand over the consignment of arms and ammunition to a gang when they were caught. We will be taking remand of Abhishek to find from where he got the pistols and who were his customers."

The ATS officials said Abhishek had been on their radar for some time now.

Sources said Abhishek bought semi-automatic pistols from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and sold them to gangs in Uttar Pradesh.

"Needy youths are being used as couriers by gangs to sneak in illegal firearms into UP from Khandwa. The Sikligar tribe in Khandwa region illegally makes duplicates of guns," said an ATS official.