New Delhi: The Delhi Police has busted an inter-state syndicate of gun dealers and arrested 18 members of the gang in a month-long operation, officials said on Monday.

According to the police, four semi-automatic pistols, eight country made pistols, one country made rifle, three knives, and 33 live bullets were recovered from the accused during the entire operation, which was named ‘Eagle’, .

The arrested persons were previously involved in more than 50 cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery, extortion, burglary riot, theft, the Arms Act and the Gangster Act, they said.

Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Devesh Chandra Srivastava said, “The operation, named ‘Eagle’, was conducted to crack down on gunrunners active in Delhi and NCR.” According to the officer, the operation was launched after two men — Arshad and Mohammad Suleman — were arrested from Ghazipur during a raid. A gun, three live bullets, three knives and a stolen car were seized from them.

“During interrogation of both the accused, they revealed the names of several other gang members involved in procuring and selling of weapons in Delhi-NCR to many criminals. Multiple teams were formed to investigate the entire network and to dismantle it by arresting all the accused,” said the special commissioner.

The officer said the teams raided multiple locations and apprehended 16 more people associated with the ‘Madan gang’.

The arrested accused confessed to the police that they were all members of the same gang and are involved in procuring and selling of illegal weapons in Delhi-NCR, Srivastava said.

The police arrested the gang’s head Madan from Dasna Jail in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, from where was operating the gang, he added.

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