Delhi Police’s Special Cell has seized 1250 live cartridges and arrested three people for the same. The Special Cell sleuths have busted a syndicate of illicit ammunition pilferage and trafficking which was being operated in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
The arrested people have been identified as Praveen Kumar, 51 and his 23-year-old son Prateek Kumar. Sonu Singh, a 22-year-old resident of Madanpur Khadar, Delhi was also held. All three of them were arrested from Ashram Metro Station along with 800 live cartridges of 0.315 bore, one Chevrolet Cruze car and one Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle.
The special cell team had received an input about Praveen, who was supposed to come near Ashram Metro station with his associate in a Golden Chevrolet Cruz Car bearing the number UP-80-BP-8845 to deliver illicit cartridges to an associate. Based on the input, a team was constituted and the members took their positions in disguise around the metro station. At evening, the team spotted the car and after a few minutes, one person approached the car along with a travel bag and sat inside. Immediately, the team surrounded the car and overpowered all the occupants.
“A raid was conducted subsequent to the disclosures made by the arrested accused Parveen Verma at his residence in Shikohabad and 450 additional cartridges of 7.65 mm were recovered from there, taking the total tally to 1250 live cartridges,” said DCP Special Cell Manishi Chandra.
Accused Parveen had a gun shop in Sikohabad, Firozabad, and the license of the shop was cancelled in 2007. However, he was still procuring cartridges from his erstwhile network of licensed dealers and has been selling the same through a network of conduits in Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, MP and Delhi/NCR.
Special Cell is now conducting a special drive against illegal firearms traffickers in the NCR region as it has been found that criminals and gangsters from Delhi/NCR are using sophisticated illegal firearms that are very frequently being supplied by the illegal arms traffickers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, said an officer privy to investigation.
The Special Cell has also been focusing on supply of ammunition through pilferage by licensed gun dealers. The bullets to be used with these illicit firearms cannot be manufactured by the arms traffickers as manufacturing a cartridge is a complex process. Each component of a cartridge is manufactured separately on expensive machines before being finally assembled for use following standard ordnance processes which are difficult to replicate.
Accused Praveen’s father used to run an arms/ammunition shop in Mainpuri, UP. After his father’s death, he took over the shop but its license was cancelled in the year 2007, following the registration of a criminal case against him. Since then, he has been involved in this illicit trade. He purchased two wheelers and cars for transporting these cartridges to Rajasthan, Bihar, UP West, MP and other States.
He also engaged his elder son, Prateek, in this trade. He along with his son, used to visit Etah, Etawa, Mainpuri, Firozabad and others places to collect pilfered cartridges from his contacts and then to supply them to buyers in various States for a handsome margin of Rs. 200 to Rs. 400 per cartridge.
“As per preliminary interrogation, he has been found supplying over 3,500-4,000 cartridges per month to his contacts in Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and NCR,” said DCP Chandra.
His son Prateek has done an ITI diploma in Electrician Trade and has been assisting his father for the last six months. During this period, he has travelled thrice with his father to NCR to supply illegal cartridges.
The third accused, Sonu Singh, is a criminal and an important syndicate of criminal Jitender alias Jeetu. Sonu works as a courier of pilfered cartridges to various places in Haryana, Rajasthan, Western UP and Delhi for a handsome commission per trip.
Further investigation is in progress to identify additional linkages of this arms/ammunition network, said police.
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