Gunrunner who travelled with tourists to escape arrest nabbed

NEWDELHI:A 32-year-old man, who used to disguise himself as a traveller and mingle with tourist groups while smuggling illegal firearms from Madhya Pradesh into Delhi, has been arrested with seven pistols and six cartridges, the police said on Monday.

Police said the arrested man, Harish Kumar alias Sunda, supplied illegal arms and ammunition to criminal groups in Delhincr, including members of wanted gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu’s gang. Sunda had been previously arrested in cases of assault on police personnel and possessing illegal firearms.

Sunda used to procure pistols from his links in Madhya Pradesh for around ₹30,000 per piece and sold them to his clients in Delhincr for ₹40,000, pocketing at least ₹10,000 as profit for each firearm, the police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said the district’s special staff team launched a drive to nab people possessing illegal firearms and using them for committing street crimes.

On November 29, the team received information that Sunda, a key supplier of illegal firearms and ammunition to criminals active in the outskirts of Delhi, would come near a bus stop in Kharkhari Rond village in Jafarpur Kalan. A trap was laid and Sunda was overpowered with a pistol and two cartridges.

“He initially tried to mislead us by claiming that it was his licensed pistol and he used to keep it for personal safety. However, he could not produce the licence and upon interrogation confessed that it was an illegal weapon. His interrogation led to the recovery of six more such pistols and four rounds,” DCP Alphonse said.

Further interrogation of Sunda revealed he had been procuring illegal firearms from Madhya Pradesh’s Manawar and Khalghat, the DCP said.