Ahead of I-Day, police nab 6 after seizing over 2k live cartridges in Delhi’s Anand Vihar

Though preliminary investigations suggest the ammunition was brought in to be eventually sold to criminals, the police said they are probing a possible terrorist motive and looking into the arrested men’s associates

In the run-up to Independence Day on Sunday, Delhi Police arrested two men near the Anand Vihar bus terminal as they brought in more than 2,000 live cartridges into the city, officers aware of the matter said. Interrogation of the two suspects led the police to arrest four more people, the officers added.

Police said the seized 2,252 live cartridges were to be delivered to a person in Lucknow. The cartridges can be used in rifles, pistols and countrymade revolvers. (HT Photo)

Though preliminary investigations suggest the ammunition was brought in to be eventually sold to criminals, the police said they are probing a possible terrorist motive and looking into the arrested men’s associates.

Police identified the two alleged ammunition carriers, arrested on August 6, as Ajmal Khan and Rashid — both from Suetha Kalan village in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district.

Vikramjit Singh, additional commissioner of police (eastern range), said one of the six arrested men, Saddam, has run an arms and ammunition store since 2018 in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, where he also owns a restaurant.

Police said the seized 2,252 live cartridges were to be delivered to a person in Lucknow.

“To strengthen security ahead of Independence Day, the police are on high alert and maintaining extensive vigil. Around 6.30am on August 6, an auto-rickshaw driver informed the police that he had seen two men carrying a heavy bag. Head constable Vikrant and constable Rohit acted swiftly and intercepted the two men, who had a trolley. On seeing the police, the two men got flustered, changed direction and started moving briskly. But our officers acted swiftly and stopped them. Police thoroughly checked their bags and recovered 2,251 live cartridges, including various types of imported ammunition,” said Singh.

“The two said they received the ammunition from a person in Dehradun to be delivered to one person in Lucknow. They disclosed that they had already supplied a similar consignment four or five times in the past,” said Singh.

The police did not disclose the name or other details of the person who was to be supplied the ammunition.

Between August 6 and 12, police conducted raids in Lucknow, Jaunpur and Dehradun and arrested four other members of the gang.

Saddam was arrested from Suetha Kalan village. Another police team that had gone to Dehradun arrested Parikshit Negi, who runs a gun shop in Dehradun.

Police said Negi disclosed that he had supplied thousands of such cartridges to the gang in the past. Negi’s questioning also led police to one Kamran, a Delhi resident, and Nasir, a resident of Roorkee in Uttarakhand.

“The gun shop owner (Negi) pilfered the bullets from the licensed shop and supplied it to criminals. On paper they showed that the bullets were transferred to the other licensed owners. Our investigation has shown that a person lodged in Meerut jail is also involved in the racket,” said an investigating officer.

While illegal guns can be easily manufactured and are available in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, it is difficult and also expensive to manufacture bullets. Most criminals use a network of arms shops to pilfer bullets. In the past there have been many cases of gun shop owners tampering with their records to show that licensed gun owners had purchased additional bullets. But police investigation has revealed that the bullets are often sold to criminals.

Earlier this year, Delhi Police adopted a new rule of asking all licensed gun holders to submit a certificate on how they had used their quota of ammunition. Police had then said that the gun shops would not be allowed to sell ammunition to the licensees unless they submitted the certificates.