NEW DELHI, July 13: A couple carrying 45 pistols have been arrested by the customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.
An investigation is underway to determine if the guns are real or not. “Ballistics reports will confirm whether the guns are real or not… but, in a preliminary report, the counter-terrorism unit National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed that the guns are fully functional and can be used,” said a customs official. Later the NSG confirmed the guns as Calibre 22.
The arrested couple has been identified as Jagjit Singh and Jaswinder Kaur, both residents of Gurgaon in Haryana. They were also accompanied by their 17-month-old daughter.
The couple had returned to India from Vietnam on Monday. Jagjit Singh was caught with the pistols in two trolley bags which he claimed were given to him by his elder brother Manjit Singh who had returned from Paris around the same time Jagjit Sigh’s flight from Vietnam landed. The total cost of the guns seize were estimated at Rs 22.50 lakhs.
The couple was intercepted by the customs officials when they had crossed the Green Channel of the Arrival Hall and were approaching towards the Exit Gate of the airport, added the officials.
Jagjit Singh was carrying two trolley bags which were handed over to him by his elder brother, Manjit Singh, who had arrived from Paris by flight AF 226 around the same day and time as the couple had arrived from Vietnam. After handing over the trolley bags to them, Manjit slipped out of the airport.
Officials stated that Jaswinder, being the active part of the plan, helped Jagjit in removing and destroying the tags of both the trolley bags containing the 45 hand guns.
After they were caught at the exit gate of the airport by the custom officials and following the inspection of the two trolley bags carried by Jagjit, the sleuths recovered 45 pieces of assorted brand guns.
During further examination, both the flyers confessed that previously also they had smuggled in 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey. The two trolley bags along with the recovered guns were seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962.
The couple have been placed under arrest under Section 104 of the Customs Act while the child has been handed over to their grandmother. Further investigation in the matter is underway. Officials further said that both terror angle and possibility of guns being used by crime syndicate and terror groups could not be ruled out.
(Manas Dasgupta)