Chandigarh, Aug 31 (Agency) Haryana Police claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of arms smugglers with the arrest of four accused involved in supply of illegal weapons to gangsters in Delhi NCR and neighbouring states. A huge cache of arms, including 35 country-made pistols and 45 magazines, were recovered from their possession. A Haryana Police spokesperson on Tuesday informed that arrested persons were identified as prime accused Mahfooz alias Fozi, a resident of district Saharanpur (UP) presently living in Panipat, Hira Lal, Santosh Nigam and Rai Singh, all native of district Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, Haryana DGP P K Agrawal appreciated Panipat SP Shashank Kumar Sawan and his team for their hard work, dedication and appropriate use of scientific methods of investigation that led to the bust of arms smugglers gang. Following an input, police had arrested Mahfooz on August 18, 2021 from Panipat alongwith five country-made pistols and ten magazines. While Hira Lal was apprehended on August 24, 2021 and two other accused were arrested on August 30, 2021 from Madhya Pradesh. Investigations conducted so far revealed that prime accused Mahfooz was sourcing illegal weapons from his contact Bachchan Singh alias Bacchi Yadav of Madhya Pradesh for sale in National Capital Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan etc. He arranged one illegal weapon for Rs 12000-15000 and plans to supply it for Rs 45000 to Rs 50000.
Earlier, Mahfooz used to drive his own taxi and during a trip he came in close contact with Bachchan Singh, who makes illegal pistols and lured him to make a quick buck by selling them in UP and Haryana as there is huge demand for illegal weapons due to a lot of gang war. To earn quick money, Mahfooz had brought five country-made pistols and ten magazines from Bachchan Singh on August 18 at a cheaper rate for sale at higher prices. He also demanded 30 illegal weapons to which Bachchan Singh said that he might be caught with a huge cache of weapons and he will supply 30 arms to him (Mahfooz) through his person. On August 24, accused Hira Lal, Santosh Nigam and Rai Singh had come to Panipat to supply the weapons to Mahfooz, in which Hira Lal was arrested by the police. Getting this information, both accused fled back to his village after hiding the illegal arms in a ruined house near the Panipat railway station. Santosh Nigam and Rai Singh were also arrested from Pipliya Mandi district Mansaur, Madhya Pradesh on August 30 and the hidden weapons in Panipat were also recovered. It is suspected that mastermind Bachahan Singh through his aides have so far smuggled a consignment of 400-500 illegal arms in Delhi, UP, Haryana, Rajasthan etc. Police parties are being dispatched and he will be arrested very soon. Further probe is underway.