Armed and doubly dangerous: Local arms factories give Delhi criminals a lethal weapons edge

Criminals in Delhi are arming themselves with sophisticated weapons that are readily available from
local arms factories, making them more dangerous than ever before.
According to Delhi Police sources, some of these weapons can use ammunition meant for imported arms, which are available on the black market and have added to their firepower.
Delhi Police has prepared an eye-opening report on the ‘easy availability of high-quality firearms’ in the Capital and the National Capital Region. It says illegal arms used by gangs are usually well-made replicas of top quality weapons sold in the international market. They are cheap, which enables the criminals to buy them.

Gun crime: Cardiologist Dr Sanjeev Dhawan (right) was recently shot dead at home by Dharmendra Tandon, a former army gunner

With growing evidence of the proliferation of these weapons, Delhi Police shared the report with state police chiefs at the recently held conference of DGPs as part of an effort to curb the menace.
The police claimed that in September alone such weapons were used in over ten murders in the Capital.
The crime network operates well beyond Delhi. In a recent operation carried out over 15 days, the Muzaffarnagar police seized over 40 country-made .315 and 12 bore pistols.

“We have busted four illegal arms factories and seized all the material used in making these weapons. They have mastered the art of making these weapons and it is hard to notice any difference between country-made and imported weapons of the same format,” said V.B. Singh, senior superintendent of police, Muzaffarnagar.
Country-made 0.315 bore weapons are easily available for Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 in different parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Many first time criminals have also managed to get sophisticated pistols in the Capital, where they cost between Rs 35,000 and Rs 50,000.

According to police officials, automatic assault rifles can be procured from places like Dadri and cheaper variants can be brought from Meerut and Ghaziabad.
A senior police official in Uttar Pradesh also pointed out that the laws in the country are not stringent enough to act as actual deterrents.
The Delhi Police report was prepared following the recovery of a huge cache of sophisticated weapons from criminals in the capital and the NCR area. The police are worried about a possible explosion of violence.
A police officer who did not wish to be named said there are fears that even petty criminals will use these weapons for chain snatching or picking pockets.
Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar has constituted a special cell within the crime branch to keep tabs on cases of gun running.
“We have looked in detail at the forward and backward linkages and carried out joint operations at several places to corner the gun running mafia,” said Kumar.

The police have prepared an action plan to control trafficking in the sophisticated arms. This includes a proposal for amending rules in the Arms Act to make bail difficult for those held under the Act.
The Delhi Police report says the government should reduce the quota of ammunition available to individual license holders.

As in the army, every licensed gun user will have to deposit used cartridges with the arms dealers before getting a fresh stock.
Many a time, senior police officials believe that licensed arms dealers sell the quota of ammunition to others, and they go on to leak it to criminals who misuse it in various antisocial activities.
Delhi Police also observed that the criminals use factory-made ammunition in the sophisticated country-made weapons, which further aggravates the problem.
Delhi Police recommended a fresh audit of all arms dealers to get the latest statistics and maintain a database of outgoing and incoming ammunition to these dealers.
The police have identified areas like Munger in Bihar and Jalalabad in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh where licenses have been given to arms dealers for manufacturing weapons.
“We have sent police teams to these areas to collect intelligence about the whole operations there and the possibility of leakage of arms to criminal elements,” Kumar said.
Interestingly, the Delhi Police report observed that weapons from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar do not find buyers in the Capital alone. They are selling like hot cakes in the Maoist areas.
The report proposes that the police should be allowed to take a photograph of a weapon before it is sealed, so that when it is produced in court the judge is aware how advanced the weapon is.
This is to ensure that the case is not treated like a regular arms recovery.