Firearms smuggling keeps police on toes in Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

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Faridabad, December 11

Even after the arrest of as many as 572 persons and the seizure of 675 illegal firearms this year in the district, the cops here remain on their toes as the nexus of arms smugglers and anti-social elements possessing illegal weapons persists.

Tabs on criminals

Thanks to a slew of measures, such as appointment of village guards in rural areas, cops have been able to keep tabs on the movement of criminals and anti-social elements. Sube Singh, Police spokesperson

Around 954 illegal weapons were seized in 2022, and 632 persons were arrested in a total of 580 cases registered last year. Though the number of cases has dipped this year, there has been no let-up in the supply of weapons, such as country-made revolvers, pistols and cartridges. According to some police sources, the weapons are supplied here from UP districts like Aligarh, Etah, Mainpuri, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr and Mathura, and MP’s Morena, Khargone, Gwalior and Barwani. It is suspected that weapons are also supplied from Nuh district, an official close to the matter revealed, requesting anonymity.

It may be recalled that the Palwal police had busted a major racket in July last year and seized as many as 41 country-made revolvers, pistols and 11 magazines of cartridges. It was billed as the biggest haul here. The suspect, who hails from MP’s Barwani district, had reportedly brought weapons for supply in Palwal, Nuh and Delhi. The police also recovered 13 country-made revolvers from a Nuh resident in January last year.

In a recent incident, cops swooped down on a youth in Sector 21 and seized a country-made pistol from his possession. He had obtained the illegal weapon from Noida at a cost of Rs 9,000, just to flaunt it.

Sube Singh, spokesperson for the Police Department, said that thanks to a slew of measures, such as the appointment of village guards in rural areas, cops have been able to keep tabs on the movement of criminals and other anti-social elements, especially those involved in the peddling of arms and drugs.

He attributed a slump in the number of illicit arms cases in the district this year to police patrolling in sensitive areas. Besides, the local police have cancelled the arms licences of around 117 people in the past two months alone for

not adhering to the norms regarding the possession of such weapons.