New Delhi: Police have busted a racket involved in the smuggling of illegal knives from China into the country and arrested five people, officials said on Wednesday.
A total of 14,053 button activated knives were seized by police, an official said, adding that it is illegal to own such knives in India.
On July 18, police got a call regarding a courier package lying on the road. When they analysed the CCTV footage, it was revealed that the box had fallen from the motorcycle of a delivery boy, a senior police officer said.
Each knife was in a packet with the details of the sender -- Mohammad Sahil from Delhi's Malviya Nagar.
A raid was conducted at his warehouse in the south Delhi locality and Sahil (28) and his employee Wasim (18) were apprehended, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Benita Mary Jaiker said.
A total of 533 button actuated knives were seized from there, she 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.
Babbar would misrepresent the consignment as kitchen knives to avoid getting caught by the customs department, they said.
Babbar too has been arrested, police said.
The investigation will now focus on the lapses, if any, on the part of regulatory and facilitating authorities like customs, Directorate General of Foreign Trade and the abettors of the crime, including e-commerce websites where the knives were being sold, the DCP said.
"We are also looking at the possibility of involvement of Chinese state actors who might be in collision with the arrested Indians into pushing the contraband and to find out what else has been pushed into India under camouflaged names and titles, the DCP said.—PTI
