'Made in Munger' AK-47 worries cops with quality like original

The Special Cell of Delhi Police has recovered a 'Munger-made' AK-47 rifle from a gang of alleged illegal arms suppliers along with 30 pistols and as many spare magazines in a seizure which could set alarm bells ringing in the security establishment.
What would add to the worries of the authorities is that a locally-made AK-47 has been recovered for the first time in the national capital and its quality is as good as that of the original.
The AK-47 and other weapons were made in Munger in Bihar and were being allegedly smuggled by three men -- identified as Shamim (46), Vijay Pal (32) and Taslim (36) -- all residents of Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar.

Following a tip-off, they were arrested on Sunday by Special Cell sleuths from Bhagat Singh Park in the Yamuna Vihar area here at about 5 P.M., police said.
After an in-house study into the growing use of sophisticated firearms over the last few years revealed that most illicit weapons were manufactured in Munger and being smuggled into Delhi, the Special Cell has been working to prevent this illegal trade.
It recovered 196 illegal weapons last year and 35 gunrunners were arrested while this year, 90 weapons have been seized and around 20 persons arrested in this connection.

"This is the first time since the Special Cell started work on 'Operation Munger' that an improvised AK-47 rifle has been recovered. The craftsmanship can be judged by the fact that the recovered weapon is exactly like an original AK-47 assault rifle," said Special Commissioner (Special Cell) SN Shrivastava.

Along with the AK-47 and its magazine, 30 semi-automatic pistols and an identical number of spare magazines have been recovered from the accused. Some of the seized pistols are engraved with a 'Made in Italy' mark while the rest bear 'Made in USA' marks.
One white-coloured Tata Indigo car, which was being used to move the weapons, has also been recovered.
Shrivastava said that a disturbing piece of information which emerged during the interrogation of the three accused is that the kingpins of the trade are working to set up a 'Mini Munger' in Delhi by bringing 'craftsmen' to the national capital and manufacturing weapons here given the 'hurdles' in smuggling the same from Munger to Delhi-NCR. He added that police are probing this angle as well.

The accused have said that an AK-47 is made only on demand and the one recovered from them was meant for a high-profile gangster of western UP.
"They had procured the AK-47 at around Rs 2.5 lakh and it was to be sold at Rs 2.8 to 3 lakh," said an official.