Woman labourer turns interstate gunrunner for her children's sake

Mobai has come a long way in 15 years: From being a farm labourer toiling in the fields in her home state Madhya Pradesh to eke out a living to feed her five children to being a street-smart woman gunrunner expert in leaving no trace of her crime.

Born in Umarti village in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, Mobai, 45, entered the world of crime 15 years ago to earn enough money to ensure enough food for her children, police said.

She was married to one Devram in Dhule in Maharashtra, but returned to Barwani after she failed to get a good-paying job and consequent comfortable living, police said.

"She came in contact with firearm smugglers and soon transformed into a gunrunner, who has till date supplied over 4,500 illegal firearms, apart from ammunition," Deputy Commissioner of Police P.S. Kushwah told IANS on Sunday.

A proclaimed offender, Mobai was arrested by the Special Cell last Wednesday evening along with 14 semi-automatic pistols in east Delhi.

She used to source the contraband from manufacturers in Dhar, Indore, Gwalior, and Barwani districts in her home state and supply these to her contacts and criminals in Delhi, National Capital Region and other places.

Initially, she started out in a small way by supplying illegal firearms to criminals and gangs in Madhya Pradesh districts of Sagar, Warla, and adjoining villages but later expanded her gunrunning business to criminals in Meerut, Ghaziabad, and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh and Mewat and Nuh in Haryana, apart from Delhi, Kushwah said.

"She is very sharp and cunning. She doesn't repeat the route she takes for the supply of illegal weapons to contacts/criminals for a long time. She often took two routes from Gwalior and Indore, taking care not to repeat these too often. She came to Delhi from Gwalior via Shajahanpur, Agra, and Mathura and from Indore through Ujjan, Neemuch and Jaipur," he said.

She also travelled by bus, car and trains to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and the NCR area to evade arrest.

"She sometimes alighted from trains two stations ahead of her destination station to ensure that no one was on her trail," the officer said.

The officer said Mobai often supplied pistols once or twice a month.

"Considering supply of 30 weapons in a month and working for 10 months in a year, she has till date supplied over 4,500 illegal weapons on an average. She charged Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 for each pistol."

Mobai is involved in three cases of arms smuggling registered in Warla and Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and one by the Delhi Police Special Cell.

Earlier, she and her accomplice Shamsu were arrested in a case under the Arms Act in Delhi, but failed to appear before a Patiala House court which declared her a proclaimed offender on May 16.

Finally, with her re-arrest, the long arm of law has caught up with her.

(Sanjeev Pal can be contacted at sanjeev.p@ians.in)

--IANS

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