New Delhi:
Three alleged inter-state arms smugglers have been arrested and over 1000 live cartridges were recovered from them by the Delhi Police, raising security concerns ahead of the upcoming Republic Day celebrations where US President Barack Obama will be the chief guest.
Although their interrogation did not reveal any terror angle but security agencies have taken this development seriously and have also taken precautionary measures, a senior police official said.
Those arrested have been identified as Mohammad Sharik (42), resident of Meerut, UP, Faheem Miya alias Bunty (44), resident of Uttarakhand and Mohammad Imran (32), resident of Sitapur, UP.
"The gang procured ammunition from Sitapur and sold them further to criminal elements in the area of Delhi and NCR. A haul of total 1020 live cartridges including 100 cartridges of prohibited 9 MM has been recovered from the possession of the accused persons," Special Commissioner (Special Cell) SN Shrivastava said.
An in-house study by the police into the growing use of sophisticated firearms over last few years revealed that in most of the cases, illegal weapons used in the commission of various crimes in Delhi were manufactured and supplied from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and ammunition from Eastern Uttar Pradesh region, and later smuggled into Delhi and NCR.
A team of Special Cell was working on these modules and on Wednesday a tip off was received that a huge consignment of illegal ammunition would be supplied near Welcome metro station in north east Delhi.
"On this information, our staff laid a trap near Welcome metro station. At about 10 PM on January 14, one car bearing UP registration number came from Seelampur side. Two persons, later identified as Sharik and Faheem were apprehended and 920 live cartridges of 7.65 MM, 9MM and 12 Bore were recovered from the car," DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
On interrogation of both the accused, it was revealed that they procured these illegal ammunitions from one Mohammad Imran of Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.
On this information, another team went to Sitapur and nabbed Imran on January 15 and further recovered 100 live cartridges of 7.65 MM. Accordingly, separate FIRs under the Arms Act were registered by the police.
Further investigations are underway, police said.