Delhi Police bust illegal knives smuggling racket, five arrested

New Delhi: A gang involved in selling China-made button-actuated knives has been busted, police said on Wednesday. They arrested three businessmen among five members of the gang and seized nearly 14,053 illegal button-activated knives from their possession.

Meanwhile, the arrested person was identified as Mohd. Sahil (28) Wasim (18), Mohd. Yusuf (29), Ashish Chawla (43) and Mayank Babbar alias Micky (32) — all residents of Delhi. Police claimed that the accused have been illegally importing prohibited button-actuated knives from China in bulk and using e-market platforms to sell the same.

Deputy Commissioner of Police South Benita Mary Jaiker said that the police received a PCR call regarding a courier package being dropped in the CR park area on July 18.

"A police team was formed. CCTV footage was scanned in and around the spot and it was revealed that the bag had fallen off the motorcycle of a delivery boy. On opening the bag, there were knives packed in a courier packet and each packet had the sender's address details from the Malviya Nagar area," she said.

A police team raided the mentioned address where Mohd. Sahil and Wasim were apprehended from a godown. On checking the godown, a total of 533 more illegal button-actuated knives were recovered, she further said. Sahil sold the knives online. He was helped by one Yusuf (29) who used to buy the knives from Ashish Chawla (43) in Sadar Bazar and transport them to Sahil's warehouse, police said, adding that Yusuf was arrested.

Later, Chawla was also arrested and another 13,440 button actuated knives were seized from his godown in Sadar Bazar, Jaiker said. Chawla disclosed that he used to place orders for the knives and the payment was made by Mayank Babbar (32), an importer who has an office in China, police said. Later, Babbar too was arrested, police said.