With the arrest of two gunrunners, the Delhi Police claimed to have busted a syndicate involved in the manufacturing and supply of illicit firearms on Friday.

A sophisticated semi-automatic pistol and four country-made single-shot pistols, along with eight live bullets of .315 bore, were recovered in the crackdown.

According to a senior police official, the two accused have been arrested as tools and parts of weapons used in the manufacture of these weapons and a car used in the commission of crime were recovered from their possession.

The two illegal arms suppliers have been identified as Pramod and Feran Singh. A case under the Arms Act has been registered against them, the police added.

This development came in the wake of an intensified crackdown on the illegal trade in arms and ammunition by the special staff team in the area of the South District.

On the basis of secret inputs, which were further refined through a manual information system, police teams came to know on June 2 that illegal firearms were going to be transported through a cab in the South District area.

Immediately, a team comprising Sub-Inspector Joginder Singh, ASI Anil Kumar, and other members of the special staff laid a well coordinated trap under the guidance of senior officers on BRT Road and after a while spotted the suspicious-looking car (cab).

At the instance of an informer, the driver of the car was signaled to stop but sensing the police presence, he accelerated in a bid to flee the spot. However, the vigilant staff successfully intercepted the car near Raja Ram Marg Cut on BRT and overpowered him. Later, he was identified as Pramod, and from his possession, 2 live rounds of .315 bore were recovered.

Later, during questioning, he disclosed about the sophisticated pistol and other arms and ammunition.

Following the arrest, and based on the information given by the driver, a raid was conducted at village Bilkhora in the Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh and his associate namely Feran Singh alias Badlu, the manufacturer of the illicit arms, was nabbed with some arms and live bullets.

During the probe, Pramod disclosed that he runs a cab on a commission basis and was fond of a lavish lifestyle but having too little income to fulfill his desires he opted to supply illegal firearms.

He used to procure the consignment from Aligarh, Hathras, and Agra at a low cost and sell them at a higher price in the Delhi and NCR areas.

Both the accused had cases registered against them, the police added.