The knives have been banned since the mid 1990s.
Over 14,000 banned knives, illegally imported from China, were seized in New Delhi on Wednesday. Five people have been arrested in the case and notices have been issued to e-commerce platforms Flipkart and Meesho for selling the banned knives on their portals, police said.
DCP South District, Benita Mary Jaiker said that 50 of the prohibited, button-activated knives, which are also known as Rampuri knives, were first recovered from an unclaimed package in CR Park.
Police traced the name and address of the sender, and arrived at a garment shop in Malviya Nagar owned by Mohammad Sahil. Over 500 of the illegal knives were found at the shop. Police thus arrested Mohammad Sahil, and his employee Wasim.
Police said that Mohammad Sahil had registered himself on e-commerce platforms and sold the knives online through his company, 'My Style', ANI reported.
Mohammad Sahil further informed the police of a third accomplice, Mohammad Yusuf, who would transport the illegal knives from Sadar Bazar in Central Delhi to Malviya Nagar.
Mohammad Yusuf led the police to Ashish Chawla, who would place orders for the knives in China. On arresting him, police seized over 13,000 knives from his warehouse.
Finally, police arrested the fifth accused in the racket, Mayank Babbar, owner of K2M Importer and Exporters whose office, ANI reported, is in China. Mayank Babbar revealed to the police that he had placed orders for 19,000 knives in the last year.
Police said that the role of custom officers in this case is also being investigated and notices have also been issued to e-commerce portal Meesho and Flipkart to see how they were selling banned knives.
"We are also looking at the possibility of involvement of Chinese state actors who might be in collision with the arrested Indians into pushing the contraband and to find out what else has been pushed into India under camouflaged names and titles," DCP South District said, reported ANI.
According to the police, since these knives were earlier made in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, they are also known as Rampuri knives. However, they have been banned by the government since the mid 1990s.
(With inputs from ANI)