Ahead of the Independence Day, the Delhi Police recovered around 2,000 live cartridges from its east district and arrested six people in the matter, officials said on Friday.
Prima facie, the accused appear to be part of a criminal network but terrorism angle cannot be ruled out at this stage, according to Additional Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range) Vikramjit Singh.
Of the six arrested, Singh identified two as Rashid and Ajmal. He said an auto-rickshaw driver had tipped the police about the duo.
Singh said, "A total of 2,251 live cartridges have been recovered. We got a tip-off about the same on August 6 from an auto driver who had dropped two persons at Anand Vihar railway station.
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"Of the six people arrested so far, one is a person from Dehradun. He is the owner of a gun house. Prima facie, it appears to be done through a criminal network. However, police are not ruling out a terror angle."
This is the latest in the long line of terror-related arrests and arms recoveries in the run up to the Independence Day. On August 2, another weapons smuggler was arrested from the Delhi-Faridabad border with handguns and cartridges. India Today reported that 12 pistols and cartridges were recovered from a man identified as Dhruv.
"The arrested accused used to supply arms and ammunition from Madhya Pradesh and further supply them to Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, and UP West areas," reported India Today.
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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday said that it arrested an active member of the terrorist group ISIS from Delhi, who was allegedly raising funds for ISIS and sending it abroad, including to Syria, in the form of cryptocurrency.
On Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested an alleged terrorist with links to ISIS who was planning an attack on the upcoming Independence Day.
On Monday, NIA arrested two "highly radicalised" Bangladeshi nationals allegedly involved in propagating jihad in India by posting hateful and incriminating materials online. They were arrested in a case related to the arrest of six active cadre of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), including three illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, from Aishbagh in Bhopal early this year, the spokesperson said.
Earlier on July 31, NIA raided 13 places in six states — Bhopal and Raisen in Madhya Pradesh; Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Ahmedabad in Gujarat; Arariya in Bihar; Bhatkal and Tumkur City in Karnataka; Kolhapur, and Nanded in Maharashtra; and Deoband in Uttar Pradesh.
India Today reported that NIA caried out raids to bust the module actively involved in content creation as well as propagation of India-centric ISIS magazine 'Voice of Hind'. It added that over 50 people were questioned for suspected terror links.
(With PTI inputs)
