Delhi Police bust ISI-linked drone arms network; four held, 10 pistols seized

An international arms trafficking network allegedly linked to Pakistans ISIbacked suppliers has been busted with the arrest of four key operatives involved in supplying highend foreignmade weapons to organised crime groups across north India police said on SaturdayAccording to the police the network sourced foreignmade weapons smuggled from Pakistan using drones and supplied them to gangsters in Delhi Haryana Uttar Pradesh and PunjabInvestigations revealed that weapons were being smuggled from Pakistan using customised drones capable of lowaltitude flights to evade radarTraffickers based across the border allegedly dropped consignments at premarked GPS locations along vulnerable stretches of the international border in Punjab late at nightLocal receivers retrieved the packages transported them to safe houses and supplied them to crime networks across IndiaThe module used encrypted communication and changed drop locations frequently to avoid surveillance police saidThe traffickers wrapped weapons in carboncoated material to evade scanning and payments were made through hawala and proxy accountsTen sophisticated pistols including Turkiyemade PX57 models used only by special forces along with 92 live cartridges were seized in the operation police saidThe arrested accused have been identified as Mandeep Singh 38 and Dalvinder Kumar 34 both from Punjab and Rohan Tomar 30 and Ajay alias Monu 37 residents of Baghpat in Uttar PradeshIntelligence was received on November 19 about an ISIbacked supply chain linked to the gang of Punjaborigin gangster Sonu Khatri alias Rajesh Kumar who is currently based in the United States and is wanted in over 45 criminal cases police saidA trap was laid near Khatu Shyam Temple on the Bawana Road stretch in Rohini A white car arrived at the spot as indicated by the input and two suspects were interceptedA duffel bag concealed inside the vehicles speaker box was found containing eight foreignmade pistols and 84 live cartridges officials saidThe two men Mandeep and Dalvinder were arrested at the spotTheir interrogation led police to two more associates Rohan Tomar and Ajay alias Monu from whose possession two additional pistols and eight cartridges were recoveredPolice informed that Mandeep and Dalvinder were childhood friends and joined the arms syndicate through Jaspreet alias Jas a close associate of gangster Sonu KhatriJas currently abroad is suspected of being connected with ISIlinked suppliers who arranged dronebased deliveriesRohan and Ajay were long associated with gangs in DelhiNCR including the Gogi gang Bhau gang and Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu gang and were involved in distributing sophisticated arms to contract killers and extortion modulesA total of 10 pistols including three Turkiyemade PX57 pistols and five Chinamade PX3 pistols have been seized along with 92 live cartridges and a white carPolice said Mandeep also known as Pita or Manpreet has an extensive criminal history involving murder attempted murder the Gangsters Act and NDPS Act casesHe frequently used fake identities to evade the lawDalvinder who once worked in Dubai resorted to criminal activities due to financial distress officials notedRohan and Ajay were allegedly close to the Anil BaliyanSanjeev Jeeva syndicate and previously supplied large quantities of weapons to multiple gangs in the regionMeanwhile a Red Corner Notice has been issued against foreignbased gangster Sonu Khatri who police believe is coordinating with ISIlinked arms suppliersA senior police officer said the recovery of Turkiyemade PX57 pistols typically used only by special forces indicates a highly sophisticated and wellorganised crossborder supply chainFurther investigation is underway to identify more modules involved in the network the officer addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever