UPSTF unearths firearms smuggling racket; four held after encounter

With the arrest of four persons from Baghpat after a fierce encounter on Thursday, the UP Special Task Force (STF) claimed to have unearthed an inter-state gang of firearms smugglers, STF officials said on Friday. They said as many as nine country-made pistols and guns as well as a significant cache of ammunitions, including 28 cartridges of three different bores, meant to be supplied to criminal gangs of west UP districts were recovered from their possession.

A senior STF official said that the arrest was made from Bawli forest area under Baraut police station limits of Baghpat on Thursday evening when the gang members were waiting for their accomplices to hand over the firearms to further supply it to different criminal gangs. He said the gang members opened fire on the STF and in retaliatory firing, two of the accused identified as Manish Kasana alias Manish Pandit and Sunny were injured after suffering gun shot in their legs.

“Other than the two injured accused, two of their accomplices Vineet Panwar and Amit Kumar were also arrested in the encounter. The police team recovered four 32 bore pistols, three 315 bore guns and two 12 bore guns as well as 15 cartridges of 32 bore, eight cartridges of 315 bore and five cartridges of 12 bore from them,” the STF official stated.

Sharing further details, another STF official stated, “All four were involved in various criminal activities and were being tracked for some time. One of the arrested Sunny along with one Jitendra alias Jeetu had opened indiscriminate firing on one Pramod Kasana in which he died suffering six bullet wounds in Ghaziabad on October 22, 2023. Jeetu, who carried a reward of ₹1 lakh was gunned down in an encounter with STF on February 26, 2025, earlier this year.”

He said similarly another accused Manish Kasana was involved in the killing of one Ratan Singh of Baghpat’s Santoshpur village on July 7, 2023. He said Manish Kasana has over nine criminal cases lodged against him in Ghaziabad and Baghpat since 2020 while four cases were registered against Sunny in Ghaziabad and Baghpat in the past two years and two criminal cases were lodged against Amit Kumar in Baghpat.

According to STF officials, initial investigations have already revealed the suspects’ involvement in organised firearms trafficking. They said the gang used to purchase these firearms from one Joginder alias Jogi and later sold it to other gangs at higher prices for the past few years. The STF is making further effort to expose the entire nexus involved in the illegal firearms supply to criminal gangs and more arrests are likely in the matter.