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New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) In a major preventive operation, the Delhi Police East District's Anti-Narcotics Squad has busted an illegal arms supply network with inter-state links to western Uttar Pradesh, arresting three accused and seizing a cache of firearms, ammunition and a vehicle, police said on Sunday.

The accused have been identified as Babu alias Murdari and Raj Kumar, both residents of Rajvir Colony in Ghazipur, Delhi, and Parvinder, a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, who is alleged to be the source of the illegal weapons. The arrests were made following a combination of real-time intelligence, social media monitoring, and technical surveillance.

According to police, the operation was carried out on April 23 after specific inputs suggested that two habitual offenders would arrive near the CRPF Red Light, on the road from New Kondli Market towards Khoda, in a car with illegal arms and intent to commit a serious crime. Acting swiftly, a team led by Inspector Arun Kumar, under the supervision of ACP, Operations, Pawan Kumar, laid a trap and intercepted the vehicle.

Babu alias Murdari and Raj Kumar were apprehended from the car. During the search, police recovered an illegal pistol along with two live cartridges from Babu and a button-actuated knife from Raj Kumar. A case under relevant sections of the Arms Act was registered at Ghazipur Police Station.

During interrogation, the duo disclosed that they had procured weapons from Parvinder in Meerut, and that additional arms were concealed at a residence in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri. Acting on the leads, police conducted a raid at Shiv Vatika Colony in Dadri and recovered an automatic pistol, two country-made pistols, and 14 live cartridges.

Further efforts led to the arrest of Parvinder in Meerut after he had gone into hiding and switched off his phone. At his instance, two more country-made pistols were recovered from his under-construction plot in Madhav Colony, Malyana.

In total, police have recovered two automatic pistols with magazines, three country-made pistols, three knives, 16 live cartridges, and the car used in the suspected offence.

Police officials said the timely action prevented a potential criminal incident and helped uncover a wider arms supply chain operating between Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh.

Further investigation is underway to identify other links in the network and dismantle the supply chain completely.

--IANS

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