New Delhi: A married couple was arrested at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi for allegedly trying to smuggle 45 hand guns into the country, news agency PTI reported customs officials as saying on Wednesday. According to the report, the officials said a ballistic report will confirm if the guns are real.
"But in a preliminary report, National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed that the guns are fully functional," PTI quoted an official as saying.
As per the report, the accused couple, identified as Jagjit Singh and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, who came from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to Delhi on Monday, had been placed under surveillance by the officials. The duo was accompanied by their infant daughter, officials said.
A statement issued by the customs department said that the male passenger was carrying two trolley bags that were handed to him by his elder brother who arrived from Paris almost at the same time and day as the couple's flight from Vietnam.
After handing over the bags, the elder brother “slipped out of the airport,” the statement said.
It added that the woman passenger, too, was an active part of the plan as she helped her husband remove and destroy the tags of both the trolley bags carrying the guns.
"Further, examination of these two trolley bags carried by passenger -1 (male passenger) resulted in the recovery of 45 pieces of assorted brand guns having approximate value of Rs 22.5 lakh," the statement added.
The duo has been arrested and their child has been handed over to her grandmother, the custom officials said.
Notably, both the passengers also confessed to their previous involvement in smuggling 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey at approximate value of Rs 12.5 lakh," the statement added.