Delhi Police Bust Illegal Foreign Arms Network Linked to Gangsters and Sidhu Moosewala Murder Probe

The streets of Old Delhi are usually alive deep into the night. Around Brijmohan Chowk in Daryaganj, trucks unload goods outside crowded shops while e-rickshaws squeeze through narrow lanes packed with traffic.

But on the night of March 13, the atmosphere felt unusually tense and quiet.

Under the dim streetlights along Netaji Subhash Marg, nearly 15 plainclothes police officers waited silently.

The operation was being led by Inspector Man Singh, and all eyes were fixed on the road leading from Turkman Gate.

At around 11:30 pm, a white scooter carrying three men entered the intersection.

The rider, dressed in a maroon T-shirt, slowed down as he approached the crossing. Before the scooter could move further, officers quickly surrounded it.

Police officials later revealed that they had been specifically waiting for Rahil Ansari, who they suspected would be travelling on the vehicle that night.

When officers searched the scooter, they discovered something far more sophisticated than the crude firearms usually recovered in local criminal cases.

Hidden inside the storage compartment was a CZ Shadow handgun — a high-end Czech-made semi-automatic pistol commonly used by professional sport shooters and elite tactical units.

Investigators said the weapon immediately stood out because it was not the kind typically associated with street-level criminals in Delhi.

One senior officer described it as the type of firearm generally seen with specialised commandos rather than men riding through the crowded lanes of Old Delhi on a scooter.

Police identified the rider as Rahil Ansari. He was accompanied by his elder brother, Hasim and their cousin Saim.

What initially appeared to be a routine arrest soon opened the door to a much larger investigation into an international arms trafficking network.

According to investigators, Rahil had allegedly become an important figure in a growing illegal arms pipeline that was supplying imported weapons to criminal gangs operating across Delhi and nearby regions.

Police believe Rahil spent months quietly building the operation from the densely populated Turkman Gate area.

Officers say he coordinated deliveries, arranged safe storage locations, and helped manage logistics for Shahbaz Ansari, a native of Uttar Pradesh who investigators suspect has been operating from Bangladesh.

What started as a local crackdown has now expanded into one of Delhi Police’s biggest investigations into the illegal trade of foreign-made firearms in recent years.

Investigators estimate that over the past seven to eight months, the network linked to Shahbaz and Rahil allegedly supplied between 300 and 400 sophisticated weapons to gangsters and organised crime groups across the National Capital Region.

Police officials also claim that at least six firing incidents reported in the last month alone have been traced back to criminal groups connected to this supply chain.

Since Rahil’s arrest, Delhi Police has detained more than 15 suspects believed to be associated with the network. According to officers, some of them were caught with parts of the hidden weapons stockpile, while others were allegedly preparing consignments for delivery.

Calling it a major breakthrough, a senior officer described the operation as one of the most significant crackdowns on an illegal arms network in recent times.

The investigation has also revived links to the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was assassinated in Punjab’s Mansa district in 2022.

Officials involved in the Moosewala murder investigation recalled recovering dozens of bullet shells from the crime scene. Forensic examinations later suggested the attackers had used a deadly mix of advanced imported weapons.

According to investigators, the arsenal included AK-47 rifles, Austrian-made Glock pistols, Turkish Zigana semi-automatic firearms, and even a Russian assault rifle — weapons rarely seen earlier in gang-related crimes across Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab.

Police officers admitted that until a few years ago, even possessing an AK-47 was considered unusual among local gangs. The presence of such sophisticated foreign weapons indicated that criminal networks were gaining access to a completely new level of firepower.

Investigators believe this shift marked the rise of a new international arms supply route feeding organised crime across North India — and police allege Shahbaz Ansari was one of the central figures behind it.

By the time Indian agencies began tracking Shahbaz, officers say he had already expanded an arms-trafficking business that originally belonged to his father, Qurban.

Police claim Qurban had earlier used an electrical shop in Khurja as a front to secretly store illegal weapons. After his death in 2019, investigators allege Shahbaz and his brother Nadeem took control of the operation and significantly expanded its reach.

Before this network emerged, most gangs in Delhi-NCR relied largely on locally manufactured weapons. Revolvers and pistols often came from illegal factories in Munger in Bihar and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, while crude country-made firearms were assembled in parts of western Uttar Pradesh.

Investigators say Shahbaz’s network changed that model completely by introducing imported weapons into the criminal market.

As investigators probing Sidhu Moosewala’s killing followed the trail of these sophisticated firearms, they eventually focused on Shahbaz’s alleged supply chain.

According to senior Delhi Police officials, the investigation uncovered links to an international smuggling route. Shahbaz allegedly maintained contacts in Pakistan, from where weapons were first moved to West Asia.

Police believe the firearms were dismantled there before being secretly routed to Nepal. From Nepal, Shahbaz’s brother-in-law Imran allegedly supervised the reassembly of the weapons before they were smuggled across the India-Nepal border.

Investigators say the consignments were then transported to Khurja, where Shahbaz’s associates, including Md Ahmad, allegedly distributed the weapons across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Although Shahbaz reportedly had contacts who could temporarily hide weapons in Delhi, police say he lacked a direct and reliable supply channel inside the Capital after his earlier arrest disrupted operations.

According to investigators, Shahbaz eventually found the solution to that problem in his cousin, Rahil Ansari.