One person is arrested every three days on average with ammunition in their hand baggage at the Delhi airport this year, Delhi Police statistics show.
A total of 19 passengers, including four women, were apprehended with a weapon and 126 bullets between January 1 and February 26 this year at the airport during the screening of passengers.
Besides the four women, the arrested included a garment factory general manager from Bengaluru with 19 live ammunition and a man from Goa who was caught with a .22 mm gun.
Most of them are carrying bullets unknowingly though warnings were issued regularly against such practices. All those arrested are booked under relevant sections of the Arms Act.
In one of the cases, the general manager of a Bengaluru-based garment factory was arrested at the Delhi airport on February 14 allegedly with 19 live bullets of .32 bore in his hand baggage. He was flying to Bengaluru and was apprehended during the screening of his baggage.
He admitted that the cartridges belonged to him and told police that he had an arms licence, which is valid only in Karnataka.
On the same day, a 21-year-old woman flying to Pune was apprehended allegedly with one bullet in her hand baggage. He told police that her husband is employed with the Indian Army and posted in Patiala.
She claimed she was returning home and she took her husband's trolley bag without being aware of the presence of a bullet.
The man from Goa was arrested with a gun on February 1. He also could not produce any document that allows him to carry a firearm.
Another person flying from Delhi to Chennai was arrested with one empty magazine. He had the authorisation to carry it from Chennai to Jaipur via Delhi. However, he did not have a journey licence for taking it from Jaipur to Chennai via Delhi.
A man flying to Amritsar was also apprehended allegedly with 50 live ammunition.
Police said that an FIR is registered against passengers who carry ammunition illegally and without a valid license issued for Delhi or all India. Between 2018 and February 2021, 257 cases were registered under the Arms Act at the IGI airport.
Police have also issued an appeal ‘Carrying Ammunition at Airport is a Non-Bailable Offence’ through various social media platforms.
However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Rajeev Ranjan said it was a matter of concern that similar cases are still being reported despite police regularly issuing such appeals.
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