Illegal firearms unit operating from hilltop in Rajasthan busted, four held

Source: hindustantimes.com

An illegal firearms manufacturing unit operating from a hilltop in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur was busted last week by a Delhi Police crime branch team after the arrest of four gunrunners with 10 pistols and as many cartridges from Delhi’s Chhawla, the Delhi police said Monday.

Police said the gun-manufacturing unit had been operating since the last four years and has produced over a thousand illegal guns, which were supplied to criminals operating in Delhi and its adjoining states.

Those involved in the production of the illegal firearms are mostly residents of villages adjoining the small mountain, locally known as Ghariajaan ki Pahari. They were trained allegedly by Irfan and Shamshu, who were arrested a few months ago by the crime branch and were skilled in manufacturing fine-quality single-barrel guns, the police said.

“The unit was operating from a jhuggi and was located on the top of the Ghariajaan ki Pahari, where anyone approaching the place could be seen from almost three kilometres away. The unit itself was well hidden inside a clump of trees and shrubs. The workshop was kept locked at all times and was opened only when the gang members assembled to manufacture weapons,” said Ajit Kumar Singla, additional commissioner of police (crime).

Police said the 20-member crime branch team was surrounded by 200-250 villagers when they raided the factory. However, nobody showed any resistance since the raiding personnel were armed and the local police had also been intimated about the raid.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Joy Tirkey said on September 13, the inter-border gangs investigation squad (IGIS) team received inputs that members of an illegal firearms syndicate would come to Dwarka’s Chhawla area to deliver a huge consignment of illegal firearms to someone in Najafgarh.

“Accordingly, a trap was laid and four members of the gang were apprehended from the Dwarka-Chhawla road while they were travelling in a Swift car. Ten good-quality countrymade pistols, 10 cartridges and a large amount of material used for making weapons were seized from their possession,” said Tirkey.

The four were identified as Talim Khan (25), Najar Hussain (33), Juber Khan (32) — residents of Bharatpur — and Nauman (35), a resident of Nuh in Haryana. They led the team to the manufacturing unit on a hilltop in Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

“We recovered machines, equipments and raw materials used in the production of guns from the factory,” added Tirkey.