The special cell of the Delhi police has arrested two Uttar Pradesh residents who supplied weapons to gangsters in the Delhi-NCR region using social media platforms, an officer said on Sunday.
The accused, identified as Arvind Kumar, 45, and Vinod Kumar, 48, were arrested on August 19 following a tip-off from the Agra canal road in Jaitpur where they were to deliver a consignment of illegal firearms to members of a dreaded gang, the officer said.
The police recovered eight pistols of .32 bore from them.
According to the police both used to procure illegal firearms from Madhya Pradesh's Khargone and charged from ₹12,000 to ₹40,000 for each weapon.
The police said they had laid a trap to arrest them after they came to know that the accused had received an order to deliver illicit pistols to members of a gang.
“They had procured illicit pistols from Madhya Pradesh's Khargone and reached near their pre-decided delivery spot at Jaitpur to deliver the consignment. They were arrested as soon as they reached near the spot with the consignment,” the officer said, adding that both were into the illicit business for over a decade now.
The police said Vinod, a resident of Hardoi, studied up to Class X and came in touch with illegal arms manufacturers based in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone and started supplying illegal arms.
Even in 2018, he was arrested by the special cell and a consignment of illicit firearms and ammunition recovered from him.
The police said Arvind, who studied up to Class 8, had earlier ran an illicit arms manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh's Pali. Despite being out on bail in the case, he continued arms trafficking business, the police said.
The police said the accused communicated with their clients, who were primarily gangsters, through social media. Investigation is in progress to arrest the Madhya Pradesh arms manufacturer who used to sell weapons to them, the police added.