Delhi: ‘Balloon seller’ held with 20 new pistols

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Police team on Saturday claimed to have arrested a man and recovered from him 20 pistols that he was planning to supply to criminal gangs in the Capital.
The arrested man has been identified as Mufeed Khan, a 27-year-old resident of Mathura district. He disguised as a balloon seller to dodge the police. Khan was previously booked in the cases of Arms Act and attempt to murder in Uttar Pradesh.
Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Santosh Kumar Meena said that since Republic Day this year, it was being noticed that Delhi was frequently receiving firearm supplies from other states. “Most of the supplies were coming from Burhanpur and other adjoining areas of Madhya Pradesh. It was also found that criminals are devising novel ways to be in disguise and mislead police for carrying out their activities uninterrupted,” he said.
On Friday, information was received that a criminal with a big consignment of pistols is coming to Delhi. A trap was laid and the suspect was spotted carrying a few balloons and a bag. When he was asked to surrender for search, he tried to run away waving a pistol at the police team.
“He was quickly controlled and disarmed and the pistol was found loaded with four live rounds. On checking his bag, 19 brand new pistols were recovered and nine packets of balloons were also found,” Meena said. “He said that the consignment was meant for use near Independence Day in Delhi-NCR.”