Suspected arms supplier held, 10 pistols and 15 cartridges seized

A suspected arms supplier was arrested and 10 country-made pistols and 15 cartridges were seized, police said Saturday.

The accused, identified as Mohabat Ali, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on October 14 from near Railway Bridge on Bhairon Marg in Pragati Maidan.

He had come to deliver a consignment of illegal weapons to a local conduit of a gangster, police said.

Two country-made pistols of .315 bore and two cartridges were seized from his possession, they said.

After his arrest, police recovered eight more country-made pistols of .315 bore and 13 cartridges from his hideout in Meerut, UP, said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) A K Singla.

During interrogation, Ali revealed that a gang headed by Mulla Raees was involved in supplying illegal weapons for the last couple of years, he said.

To escape the police dragnet, the gang members used to take due precautions while communicating with each other over mobile phones, Singla said.

They often used pre-decided code words for deciding type of weapon, number of rounds and place of delivery, the officer said, adding that the word 'pen' was used to refer to a pistol.

A 9 mm pistol was referred to as 'bada pen' and a 7.65 mm was referred to as 'chota pen' while 'pencil' was used for referring to .315 bore pistols. The word 'sikka' was used to denote rounds, Singla added.