UP police bust gang dealing in foreign weapons, four arrested

Uttar Pradesh’s Anti-Terrorism Squad has busted a gang dealing in illegal foreign made weapons and selling them to anti-national elements.

Four members of the gang — Mohammad Kahlid of National Gun House, Lucknow, Junaid Ashraf of Bareilly Gun House, Kanpur and his workers Kallu Sharma and Vimal Kumar — were arrested by the ATS on Wednesday, said Arun Kumar, additional deputy general (law and order).

While Kahlid was arrested from Unnao, the other three were arrested from Kanpur.
During interrogation, Kahlid revealed that with the help of Shivanandan Shetty of Mumbai, he used to get parcels of weapon parts such as colt, baretta and llama in the form of computer parts from Singapore and Canada, Kumar said.

Later, these parts used to be assembled with the help of electronic device machines in accordance to the catalogues and demands.

Links with Maoists

The ADG said the gang members also used to buy old foreign made weapons and destroy them only to use their numbers, marks and make in the new weapons and sell them at high rates.

This network could also have links with Maoists and Naxalites, but it could be confirmed only after proper inquiry, he said.

Kumar said that so far Khalid has sold 150 to 160 such weapons in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Kolkata, Haryana and Punjab and has bought land in Lucknow and was working as a property dealer.

A number of arms, their parts, mobile phones, vehicles and cash were recovered from those arrested.