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How gun trade might have cost life of a brave NIA officer

Tanzil, 45, was gunned down in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor area when he was returning from a wedding reception along with his family.

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As investigative agencies and state police attempt to identify two bike-bore assailants who brutally murdered Mohamad Tanzil an Nation Investigation Agency's inspector in Bijnor, the entire incident has yet again highlighted the thriving gun trade in various northern and central Indian states.

Tanzil, 45, was gunned down in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor area when he was returning from a wedding reception along with his family. A total of 24 bullets were sprayed on his Wagon-R car hitting him and his wife Farzana, while his two children managed to escape unhurt. Around a dozen bullets hit Tanzil while his wife, who is currently undergoing treatment was hit four times.

"We believe a 9 MM automatic pistol was used and there were two type of bullets found from the site,"said a senior Uttar Pradesh police official, perhaps not for the first time and certainly not for the last time. The gun trade in various north Indian states and Delhi itself has seen a variety of weapons but the relation of a 9 mm pistol with gun racketeers and traders is quite a unique one.

In January last year a haul of total 1020 live cartridges including cartridges of 9 MM was recovered by the Special Cell of Delhi Police from three alleged inter state gun smugglers, identified as Shariq, Faheem and Imran, just before US President Barack Obama was to visit India for 26 January celebrations.

Two months later Special Cell seized over 1,800 cartridges and 12 sophisticated shotguns and arrested three men — Ashok Singh, Rakesh Sharma and Ajay Sharma . There were other seizures in 2014 in states including Madhya Prdaesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but police would mainly find cartridges.

It took some time for the police to figure out why there were so many 9MM cartridges and no guns. A senior Delhi Police officer spoke on the modus operandi involved. According to the official,"The firearms manufactured in say Munger, Bihar or Khargaon in MP are traded for cartridges sourced from dubious sources by collectors based in other parts of the state. The racketeers from one end of the syndicate carry firearms with them which are delivered to peddlers coming from the other end of the syndicate carrying cartridges for the gun peddlers. The result is a complete package, a pistol, along with cartridges which is then sold in the black market," said an official adding that there have been suspicions that the 'trade' is carried with active collaboration of 'other officials'

A senior Delhi Police officer while talking to dna elaborated on the history of how weapons, which can only be made by the Indian Ordinance factories, are being made in a thriving black market with an active collaboration of government officials.

"Post-Independence a lot of ordinance factories, held by private individuals, were decommissioned. As years passed the Central government strengthened their hold on production of weapons and stringent mechanisms were introduced to hire people in this field. But people who had lost jobs due to decommissioning had this skill and no work so they began to produce guns privately thus boosting the illicit trade. In some cases we found out that this had become a family trade. This, we noticed in areas close to the ordinance factories in various parts of Madhya Pradesh. The weapons are then sold in other states,"said a senior police officer who had headed many raids on the gun rackets in and around the National Capital.

Bullets thrive in black market

A senior Delhi Police officer while talking to dna elaborated on the history of how weapons, which can only be made by the Indian Ordinance factories, are being made in a thriving black market with an active collaboration of government officials."Post-Independence a lot of ordinance factories, held by private individuals, were decommissioned. As years passed the Central government strengthened their hold on production of weapons and stringent mechanisms were introduced to hire people in this field.

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