Nagaland arms licence racket busted, 8 held

Several Delhi residents, including many with criminal backgrounds, have been procuring arms licences from Nagaland on forged documents and without police verifications, police said on Thursday.

Six such licence holders and two agents who procured such licences have been arrested so far. Police suspect that many more residents were possessing arms on fake licences and a probe is on to identify and arrest them.

“While the licences were obtained from Nagaland, the arms and ammunition were purchased from dealers in Delhi and NCR. In some cases, the arms were procured from ordinance factories,” said a senior police officer with Delhi Police Special Cell.

Police stumbled upon this racket while investigating an Arms Act case registered with the Special Cell in September last year. An FIR was registered by the department to bust the racket and initiate legal action against the suspects.

A total of eight persons were arrested in this connection. Their arms licences and weapons were seized. The licences are found to have been issued by the District Magistrate of Dimapur, Nagaland with ‘All India’ validity, said police.

“However, arms licences for All India validity can be granted only after seeking prior concurrence of Ministry of Home Affairs with full justification in deserving cases,” said police.

The arms and their licences were seized from the holders also because they were allegedly purchased in contravention to the MHA’s guidelines that no arms licence can be granted without police verification, which includes antecedents of the applicant and assessment of threat.

“Such licence holders have no threat to their lives. Instead, they have themselves been involved in criminal cases. They had paid huge sum of money to the agents to get these licences,” said police. The role of gun houses and arms dealers in Delhi and NCR is also being probed, said police.