STF Arrests Agra Man With Six Country-Made Pistols in Sohna

GURUGRAM: The central unit of the Haryana Police Special Task Force arrested a suspected arms smuggler in Sohna and recovered six country-made semi-automatic pistols from his possession, officials said on Monday.

The suspect, a 29-year-old resident of Khandari in the Civil Lines area of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, identified in local reports as Gulshad, was arrested on Sunday after a tip-off and technical data analysis, STF officials said. An FIR was registered at City Sohna police station under sections 25 and 29 of the Arms Act on Sunday after the firearms were recovered. Police said the suspect was allegedly involved in illegal possession and continuous supply of firearms for several months.

A senior STF official said the suspect was produced before a court on Monday and taken on four days' police remand for detailed interrogation. "He was being questioned to establish the source from which he had procured firearms and also to identify the suspects to whom he was scheduled to supply them. Till now, nothing has surfaced to establish that he was linked with any gang," the official said, adding that the suspect had reached Sohna to deliver the consignment before he was arrested.

Officials said the pistols were .32 bore country-made semi-automatic firearms of relatively high quality and were probably meant for supply to local criminals in Haryana and Rajasthan. Details were being gathered from the suspect's mobile phone to map continuous contacts. STF officials also said he had allegedly smuggled weapons in large quantities earlier.

The Sohna-Tauru road corridor is a known transit belt between the National Capital Region and Rajasthan. Interceptions of alleged arms consignments on that route have figured in previous STF operations. In this case, investigators are focusing on the supply chain behind the six pistols rather than on an immediate gang label, officials said.

Remand questioning is expected to cover procurement points in Uttar Pradesh, intended recipients in Haryana or Rajasthan, payment trails, and prior trips if any. Sections 25 and 29 of the Arms Act deal with possession and related offences involving illegal firearms. Allegations of continuous supply over several months remain under probe and have not been tested in court.

City Sohna police are the jurisdictional station for the FIR while the STF central unit led the interception. Coordination between the two will shape how recoveries are inventoried and how further arrests, if any, are executed. Officials cautioned that no gang link had been established so far even as they examined phone data for delivery contacts.

Recovery of six pistols in a single stop is treated as a significant haul for a roadside interception. Investigators said the quality of the country-made weapons suggested they were not crude single-shot pieces but semi-automatic arms intended for ready use. Further disclosures will depend on what remand interrogation yields over the four-day window granted by the court.