One more held for smuggling guns through Delhi airport

NEW DELHI: Days after a Gurugram-based couple was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 45 hand guns into the country, Delhi Police on Monday said they arrested the man’s brother, who had been on the run.

Delhi Police public relations officer deputy commissioner of police Suman Nalwa identified the suspect as Manjit Singh, a resident of Gurugram, who was arrested on the basis of a tip off from Dwarka’s Sector 9 from under a Metro bridge.

“A blank fire pistol has been recovered from his possession,” she added.

Police said that Singh is wanted in connection with the recent case of recovery of foreign-made pistols from Jagjit Singh and his wife Jasvinder Kaur at Indira Gandhi International Airport on July 11. “He had also sent a consignment of contraband pistols to India through the foreign post office (FPO). He was produced before court and sent to five days’ police custody to ascertain the source of weapons , the mode of smuggling them into India and the mode of possible disposal,” Nalwa said, adding that further investigation is underway.

The couple was arrested when they were travelling from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City with their infant daughter on July 11. They had been placed under surveillance and were intercepted by customs officers when they had crossed the Green Channel of the arrival hall and were approaching the exit gate. The man was carrying two trolley bags, which were handed to him by his older brother Manjit Singh who had arrived from Paris almost at the same time as the couple had from Vietnam, a customs official said, adding that Manjit Singh, after handing over the trolley bags, “slipped out of the airport”.

Examination of these two trolley bags resulted in the recovery of 45 pieces of guns of assorted brands approximately valued at ₹22.5 lakh.