The Hindu : Police in a fix over illegal arms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 13, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Police in a fix over illegal arms

WHEN THE issue of large-scale smuggling of illegal arms into the Capital was taken up for discussion during the inter-State crime coordination meeting this past week, Delhi's Police Commissioner, K.K. Paul, chose to deliberate on it at length especially in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Perhaps it is only during such times that the issue comes into sharp focus.

However, the growing incidents of crime involving country-made firearms reported from across the Capital everyday clearly reveal that anti-socials have easy access to these weapons, elections or no elections. Statistics show that the Delhi police seized 485 such firearms last year, while 115 have been recovered so far this year. These seizures are just the tip of the iceberg.

Like any other firearm, illegal firearms too are potent weapons. The difference between registered and illegal firearm is that while the owner of the latter can easily be traced, that of the former remains anonymous. Also, there can be a check on production of authorised weapons, but not on those manufactured in illegal units.

It is believed that countless such factories are being run in the far-flung areas of Delhi and neighbouring towns, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. A senior police officer observed that at some places -- like the remote areas of Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Etah and Bareilly, -- the business has taken a shape of a cottage industry. These units have been running for the past several years.

However, the police earlier did not accord much importance to the matter. However, unearthing of factories manufacturing these killing devices in quick succession has sent the alarm bells ringing. While the Ghaziabad police unearthed one such factory a few days ago, the Crime Branch of the Delhi police discovered a unit being run in the bordering area of Loni in Ghaziabad last month, which was into large-scale manufacturing and sale of country-made firearms.

The makeshift factory had all the means -- butts, side covers, barrels, triggers, a grinding machine, an electric and a hand-actuated drilling machine and a welding machine - to manufacture these firearms. During interrogation, those arrested for running the Loni unit disclosed that they had sold nearly 500 country-made pistols to criminals in the past year. Another such unit operating from Vivek Vihar for the past two-and-half years was discovered this January.

And thousands of such firearms remain in circulation and are available for a meagre sum of Rs. 1,500. Therefore, it is quite clear that it only through complete elimination of these weapons that the authorities can ensure a sharp decline in the crime rate.

The easy availability of firearms is a matter of great concern in many countries across the globe. Last year, it was a subject of heated debate in Britain, where it was felt that the rate of crime involving such weapons had increased by over 30 per cent over a decade due to relaxed gun-laws. Here in this country, the problem is that the police are not interested in tracing the source of these weapons.

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