Moradabad Police bust illegal arms manufacturing racket, 9 held
In a major crackdown on illegal arms trade, Moradabad Police on Friday arrested nine individuals accused of manufacturing and distributing country-made firearms.
A significant cache of weapons, ammunition, and tools used to produce arms, including, 5 country-made pistols, 2 partially assembled pistols, 54 live cartridges, 1,200 cartridge primers, 2 kilograms of gunpowder, one live bomb, multiple tools and equipment used for weapon manufacturing were recovered from their possession.
A joint team of local police, surveillance cell and special operation group, had been tracking the gang's activities for some time. Acting on an intelligence, the team raided multiple locations, and arrested the key gang members.
Superintendent of police (SP) City Kumar Ranvijay Singh said, 'The racket was running at one of the accused Zakir's house, where he, along with Idrees and Rizwan, was engaged in assembling country-made pistols. Another member, Javed, used to make cartridges at his own residence. The finished weapons and ammunition were then distributed across Moradabad and other parts of the region by four other members of the gang —Ankit, Arun, Anshuman, and Tushar.'
Kumar said that each pistol was being sold for approximately ₹5,000. The gang had established a well-organized supply chain spanning across various districts in the region. The arrested accused have been booked under the sections of the Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act.
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