In the ongoing crackdown on the criminals and illegal arms smugglers involved in the supply of weapons to gangsters in the Delhi NCR, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police nabbed two key members of a syndicate originating from Madhya Pradesh.

Teams of the special unit’s Northern Range and STF, which executed the operation, have recovered 20 illegal semi-automatic pistols from the two gunrunners.

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On March 14, the police received a tip-off through a reliable source that two key associates of an illicit arms syndicate would come to Burari Delhi and deliver a consignment of weapons to a contact identified as Asif, a resident of Shahdara.

The duo was identified as Rahim alias Beti and Vishal Solav alias Atul. They were apprehended from the spot in Delhi’s Burari, and the consignment of 20 pistols was recovered from them.

Later, it was revealed that they had procured the handguns from a Madhya Pradesh-based supplier whose name is Sheikh Azam alias Ajju alias Ravan.

The guns they smuggled were manufactured at Khargone, the police said, adding that they were to be sold for Rs 30,000 per pistol, the police added.

During sustained questioning, Rahim told the police he was into the illegal trade for over 10 years, and along with his co-accused, Vishal, used to procure illegal pistols from Baitul, MP, and supply them to criminals in Delhi, MP, and Maharashtra.

He was paid Rs 10,000 to 20,000 per consignment.

The police also found that the accused Rahim has five criminal cases of Excise Act and Arms Act against him registered at various police stations in MP state.

The second accused, Vishal’s involvement in gunrunning began three years ago when Rahim lured him with Rs 5,000 per trip.

Further probe into the matter is one to find out linkages of the accused persons.