Father-son duo made knockoffs of foreign guns, faked labels too

NEW DELHI: The criminals found the M9 Berreta and the Browning Hi Power pistol irresistible. Admittedly, they were only copies, but then they perform like the real stuff. Not surprisingly, the father-son duo who make these is quite a brand among criminals and even command a premium for some of the weapons. But like in all commercial ventures, they had not reckoned with a dip in fortunes. In their case, it was being nabbed by Delhi Police’s Crime Branch.
Police caught the duo with eight weapons and cartridges on Friday. Most of the weapons had a “Made in UK” or “Made in Korea” tag on them to make them look authentic. DCP G Ram Gopal Naik said the accused, Haroon and Imran, were spotted near the Ghazipur fruit market by a team where they had come to meet a supplier. “As soon as we intercepted them, one of them pulled out a pistol and fired at the team, however, they were eventually caught,” he said.

Police found that the semi-automatic weapons had almost all the features of the original weapons, including the hand-grips and levers. Some of them also had a dual colour tone similar to the Glock series.

The men told the cops that they used to collect these weapons from manufacturers in Munger, Meerut and Khargone. Being of premium qualities, they cost more than the regular ones. The weapons were delivered to a seller in Mathura and then they reached Haroon.

Haroon told the cops that he is a native of Humayun Nagar in UP and used to work as a mason till 2009 when he came in the contact with Rahis, a supplier of the illegal fire arms. He started purchasing fire arms from him and supplying them to Delhi. In 2010, he was arrested by Delhi Police’s Special Cell for illegal possession of arms and ammunition along with four of his associates.