Delhi Police busts interstate arms trafficking racket; gun house owner among 5 arrested

New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested five persons, including a gun house owner, after busting a network of interstate arms traffickers, which allegedly supplied sophisticated firearms and foreign-made ammunition to criminals, officials said on Friday.

According to the police, licensed gun dealers, trusted to sell firearms legally, allegedly turned traffickers by supplying sophisticated weapons to criminals running extortion rackets while covering their tracks with fudged records.

These gun dealers allegedly procured sophisticated firearms directly from the ordinance factories, erased their unique serial numbers and then sold them to criminals at inflated rates, ACP (Special Cell) Pratiksha Godara said.

The sales were falsely recorded as transactions with valid licence holders, she said.

The seized arms included two ordnance-made pistols, a Taurus pistol, a Webley revolver, two pen pistols, one .32 bore pistol, and several cartridges of foreign make, the officer said.

The breakthrough in the case came during an investigation into an extortion racket busted last December, the ACP said.

“In December 2024, the Special Cell arrested several people involved in an extortion network run by gangsters lodged in Jaipur and Dausa jails (in Rajasthan). One of their Delhi-based associates, who was passing on information about the potential targets, was also arrested,” the officer said.

The extortion racket had overseas masterminds who issued threats to the victims in India on behalf of the jailed gangsters, she said.

“During the investigation, it was found that some Delhi-based criminals were involved in trafficking high-end illegal weapons, including Taurus pistols, Webley revolvers and ammunition," the ACP said.

Several other suspects, including gun house owners from other states, have been identified and are under surveillance. Further probe is underway to dismantle the entire network, she said.