Huge arms haul in Delhi: 2,251 live cartridges seized ahead of I-Day

New Delhi [India], August 12 (ANI): The Delhi Police on Friday seized a consignment of smuggled ammunition that was intended to be transported to Lucknow from the national capital.

The police have arrested six persons in the case, including two persons for transporting it, one gun house owner from Dehradun, one person each from Roorkee and Dehradun, and one consignment handler from Jaunpur.

"Six persons including two persons transporting the consignment, a gun house owner from Dehradun, one person each from Roorkee and Dehradun and one handler from Jaunpur were arrested," Vikramjit Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP), Eastern Range, Delhi said in a press conference on the recovery of a large amount of ammunition days before the 75th Independence Day.

The ACP further informed that the consignment was intended for Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and said that it prima facie appeared as a part of some criminal network.

"This consignment was intended for Lucknow, UP. Prima facie, it appears to be a part of a criminal network," he added.

However, no terror angle has been ruled out by the police, so far.

The police had recovered a huge quantity of ammunition-- which included as many as 2,000 live cartridges-- from two bags in Anand Vihar of Delhi.

DCP (East) Priyanka Sharma termed the recovery 'achievement of the police along with the civil societies under the 'Eyes and Ears scheme' of the Delhi Police.

She informed that the police acted on specific input from a rickshaw puller who nudged a constable in the staff about two suspicious persons carrying heavy bags.

"Acting on the information, we could nab the people, identified as Rashid alias Lallan (20) and Ajmal (20) of village Suetha Kalan in UP's Jaunpur and recovered 2,251 live cartridges from their possession.  

According to an official statement from the police, the ACP of Madhu Vihar proceeded to Lucknow and Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to nab the other members of the syndicate-- who were the receivers of the consignment.

The team raided several places and nabbed one of the proposed receivers namely Saddam was from Village Suetha Kalan in Jaunpur.

Meanwhile, another team was sent to Dehradun to find the source of the said illegal ammunition and after collecting inputs and scanning the CCTV footage at and around the locations where the consignment was allegedly exchanged, the police identified one Parikshit Negi who runs a gun house in Dehradun.

On sustained interrogation, Negi revealed that he had procured the ammunition from several Gun Houses in Uttarakhand as well as other sources, and after manipulating the records of his gun house, he used to supply the ammunition to the persons accused.

Negi further said that he was frequently involved in such illegal trafficking of arms and ammunition and had already supplied them to the same person 4-5 times in the past.

As per the version of accused Parikshit Negi, he had already supplied thousands of cartridges to the same syndicate at different places, the statement read.

During further investigation, three more members of the syndicate were identified and arrested by the teams of Delhi Police. 

Further investigation is underway. (ANI)