Couple arrested from IGIA with 45 handguns
New Delhi: The customs department nabbed a married couple with 45 assorted handguns of .22 calibre from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the officials informed on Wednesday.
The couple has been identified as Jagjeet Singh (41) and Jaswinder Kaur (31), residents of Gurugram, Haryana, Commissioner Of Customs Airport and General, Terminal-3 (T-3) Zubair Riaz Kamili mentioned. Meanwhile, the National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed that the guns are fully functional and can be used, but the ballistics report is yet to come.
According to the officials, the couple was intercepted by the customs officers when they crossed the green channel of the arrival hall and were approaching the exit gate. The couple arrived from Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) to Delhi by flight no. VJ 895 at T-3 on Sunday. Later, they were placed under surveillance and were also accompanied by their infant daughter who was later handed over to her grandmother, Kamili said.
During the interrogation, it was revealed that Jagjeet 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 almost at the same time and day as Jagjeet and Jaswinder Kaur arrived from Vietnam.
After handing over both the bags, Manjit slipped out of the airport, the official confirmed. Moreover, Jaswinder was an active part of this plan and she helped Jagjeet in removing and destroying the tags of both the trolley bags containing 45 guns.
Further, examination of these two trolley bags carried by Jagjeet led to the recovery of 45 handguns having an approximate value of
Rs 22.50 lakh. The couple had also admitted their previous indulgence in smuggling 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey having a value of nearly Rs 12.50 lakh. Hence, the total value of the offence amounts to Rs 35 lakh. Two trolley bags along with the recovered guns have been seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962, while the couple has been arrested under Section 104 of the Act, Kamili added.
