Arms trafficker arrested in Delhi

A 58-year-old man allegedly involved in supplying illegal arms and ammunition to criminals and Naxalites was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, officials said on Friday.

Five pistols and 200 live cartridges have been recovered from him, they said, adding the accused, a B.com graduate, was code-named 'Master' in his circles.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), Pramod Singh Kushwah, said the accused Ram Krishna Singh alias Master, a resident of Bhojpur in Bihar, was arrested from Delhi's Nizamuddin area on Wednesday.

Post Covid this year, Singh revived selling illegal arms to gangsters and criminals and since June, he has sold over 300 cartridges and 10 pistols to criminals of Delhi-NCR, he said.

He has been previously involved in allegedly trafficking illegal arms and supplying them to criminals in Bihar, Delhi and NCR besides to Naxals in Odisha and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, he added.

''On Wednesday, we received information that Singh would come on road towards Gurudwara Damdama Sahib opposite Sunder Nursery Parking in Nizamuddin along with five pistols of .32 bore and 200 live cartridges to deliver it to criminals based in Delhi and NCR. ''Accordingly, a trap was laid and in the evening, our team spotted Singh immediately surrounded him and apprehended him with the bag containing the pistols and cartridges,'' said Kushwah.

Singh has revealed that he purchases a pistol of .32 bore at a lower rate and sells it to criminals of Delhi-NCR at a higher rate, he said.

''He procured illicit cartridges from one of his contacts based in UP's Firozabad and then sold it to criminals of Delhi-NCR. Further investigation is on to identify all the forward and backward linkages of this arms and ammunition network,'' the DCP said.

In 2018, Singh was nabbed by Delhi Police's Special Cell along with 407 live cartridges and it was during his stay in Tihar jail that he developed contacts with gangsters and criminals. According to their demand, he started supplying arms and ammunition to criminals based in Delhi-NCR, the officer said.

Singh, who is a B.Com graduate, used to teach in private schools of Bihar. He came in contact with a criminal of his area in 2015 and joined them to traffic illegal arms and ammunition to make easy money, the police said. Initially, he kept his network in Bihar but due to the high demand from criminals and Naxals of various states, he extended his realm up to Odisha, Maharashtra and Delhi-NCR and became famous with code name Master, according to the police.