New Delhi, April 26: The Delhi Police East District's Anti-Narcotics Squad dismantled a dangerous inter-state illegal arms supply network on April 23, 2025, arresting three individuals and recovering an arsenal of seven firearms, 16 live cartridges, and three knives — along with a vehicle — in a coordinated operation spanning Delhi, Dadri, and Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh. The swift action, driven by real-time intelligence and social media surveillance, prevented what police describe as a planned serious criminal act in the national capital.

How the Operation Unfolded

Acting on specific intelligence inputs, a police team led by Inspector Arun Kumar, under the supervision of ACP (Operations) Pawan Kumar, set a trap near the CRPF Red Light on the road connecting New Kondli Market to Khoda. The tip-off indicated that two habitual offenders were en route to the location in a car, armed and intending to commit a grave offence.

The team intercepted the vehicle and apprehended Babu alias Murdari and Raj Kumar, both residents of Rajvir Colony, Ghazipur, Delhi. A search of the car yielded an illegal pistol and two live cartridges from Babu, and a button-actuated knife from Raj Kumar. A case under the relevant sections of the Arms Act was promptly registered at Ghazipur Police Station.

The Meerut Connection and Dadri Cache

During interrogation, both accused revealed that their weapons supplier was Parvinder, a resident of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and that a larger cache of arms was hidden at a property in Shiv Vatika Colony, Dadri. A police raid on the Dadri location uncovered an automatic pistol, two country-made pistols, and 14 live cartridges — a haul that pointed to a well-organised supply chain.

Parvinder had gone into hiding and switched off his mobile phone to evade arrest. However, sustained technical surveillance led police to him in Meerut, where he was subsequently arrested. Acting on his disclosure, two additional country-made pistols were recovered from his under-construction plot in Madhav Colony, Malyana.

Total Seizure and Scale of the Network

In aggregate, the operation resulted in the seizure of two automatic pistols with magazines, three country-made pistols, three knives, 16 live cartridges, and the car used in the suspected offence. The scale of the recovery underscores the network's capacity to arm multiple individuals for criminal activities across state lines.

This comes amid a well-documented pattern of illegal weapons flowing from western Uttar Pradesh — particularly the Meerut-Ghaziabad-Hapur belt — into Delhi and the NCR region. Law enforcement agencies have repeatedly flagged this corridor as a major source of illicit firearms that fuel gang violence, extortion rackets, and organised crime in the capital.

Wider Implications for Delhi's Crime Landscape

The use of social media monitoring and technical surveillance in this operation reflects a growing shift in Delhi Police's counter-crime methodology. Notably, such inter-state arms busts have become increasingly frequent, with multiple similar operations reported across the Delhi-NCR region in recent months — raising questions about the effectiveness of existing check-posts and border surveillance mechanisms between Delhi and UP.

Critics argue that the sheer volume of illegal weapons entering Delhi points to systemic gaps in the Arms Act enforcement and border monitoring, calling for a more coordinated federal response involving both state police forces and central agencies. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data has consistently shown Delhi among the top cities for arms-related offences, lending urgency to operations like this one.

Police officials confirmed that the timely intervention averted what could have been a violent criminal incident and helped expose a broader supply chain. Further investigation is ongoing to identify additional members of the network, trace the origin of the weapons, and fully dismantle the supply chain.