13 weapon traffickers arrested daily since drive started in June: Delhi Police

NEW DELHI: Ever since it launched a drive six months ago to hunt down traffickers of illegal weapons, Delhi Police has arrested 13 gunrunners everyday on an average, a data compiled by the department shows.
Between June and November, different units of Delhi Police have arrested 2,431 people with weapons. From them, a staggering 1,702 weapons were seized and over 2,000 FIRs were registered, said a police officer.

The worth of the seized weapons is estimated to be over Rs 35 crore.A basic semi-automatic pistol of 7.65mm caliber sells for Rs 20,000-25000 and the price may go up to Rs 40,000 for a locally made pistol, depending upon its quality.
In a bid to curb crime and to bring in the criminal syndicates in the capital to book, Delhi Police commissioner S N Shrivastava had in June issued directions for chalking out a concerted action plan to unearth the illegal arms held by criminal gangs.
Since then, not just special cell and crime branch — who are mandated to keep the heat mounted on such syndicates — but local police units, too, started a crackdown. Post the top cop’s orders, all units of Delhi Police activated their sources to collect ground-level information about these operatives.

“As a result, 2,431 people were arrested between June 1 and November 30 in 2,040 cases registered under the Arms Act in various police districts in the city,” Delhi Police spokesperson Eish Singhal said.
The seizures included 1,493 pistols, 195 revolvers and 14 rifles.
Singhal said that the force had an “unprecedented success” in its efforts to crack the criminal syndicates trying to establish a foothold in Delhi. “Special teams were constituted by Crime Branch, Special Cell and various police stations of Delhi for collecting intelligence and conducting of raids,” he added.
Gunrunners are being booked under Section 25 (8) of the amended Arms Act, in which there is a provision of a minimum sentence of 10 years that can extend up to life imprisonment, police said.
A significant achievement in this crackdown has been the seizure of 3,198 live cartridges from the arrested gunrunners in addition to the weapons. Bullets, unlike guns, can’t be soured locally or manufactured. They are either smuggled from across the border or stolen from ordnance depots and gun-houses, a police officer said.
During the drive, the cops kept their focus on the hubs in Madhya Pradesh and areas like Meerut and Munger from where the criminals of Delhi-NCR usually source guns.
Several raids were conducted in Sendhwa, Khargone, Dhar and Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh and police teams even camped there for weeks to generate intelligence about the gunrunners.
Delhi Police said the drive was going to be intensified in the coming weeks.