Jawan among 2 held for arms smuggling

NEW DELHI: An interstate gang of arms suppliers has been busted with the arrest of an Army man and his associate. Lokendra Singh, who served in the Jat regiment and was posted in Assam, supplied illegal arms and ammunition across states during his leave, police said. "We are questioning him and his aide, Yashpal Sharma, to identify the receivers of the weapons. The SUV was stolen from Uttarakhand," said P S Kushwah, additional DCP, south district.

Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted an SUV on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road. Fifteen high quality weapons and about 40 cartridges were seized. Nine sophisticated 9mm pistols, three country-made pistols, one revolver and two guns of .315 bore and 40 live rounds were found.

On August 27, constable Ashok was informed about the gang's movements. A team, led by SHO Mehrauli Atul Kumar, set a trap and started checking vehicles at Ahinsa Sthal. A Bolero was stopped around 7.30pm and the two were nabbed. A case was registered for criminal conspiracy and under the Arms Act.

The accused revealed they were the main arms supplier in Delhi, Haryana, UP and Punjab. They allegedly procured weapons from two big players, Man Singh and Tara Chand, from Aligarh. Sharma said he was smuggling for the past eight years and had been arrested under the Arms Act in Faridabad. Singh was on leave at the time of the arrest. The pistols, double-barrel guns and country-made weapons were bought for Rs 30,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 4,000 each. They were sold for Rs 40,000, Rs 20,000 and 5,000-7,000 respectively.