Indian couple caught at airport with 45 guns

New Delhi, July 13: Indian couple carrying 45 pistols were arrested by customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The accused, who arrived here from Vietnam has been identified as Jagjit Singh and Jaswinder Kaur, both residents of Gurgaon in Haryana.

They were intercepted by the customs officials when they had crossed the Green Channel of the Arrival Hall and were approaching the Exit Gate of the airport.

Following the inspection of the two trolley bags carried by Jagjit, the sleuths recovered 45 pieces of assorted brand guns having approximate market value of Rs 22,50,000.

In a preliminary report, National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed that the guns are fully functional," an official said. The accused had been placed under surveillance by the officials. The husband and wife duo were accompanied by their infant daughter.

The male passenger was carrying two trolley bags, which were handed to him by his elder brother who had arrived from Paris almost at the same time and day as the couple's flight from Vietnam landed here, the customs department said in the statement. The elder brother, after handing over the trolley bags, "slipped out of the airport," it said.

The woman passenger too was active part of this plan as she helped her husband remove and destroy the tags of both the trolley bags that contained the guns, the statement said. "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," it said.

"They admitted (they had) previously smuggled 25 pieces of guns having a value of over Rs 12 lakh," a senior customs official at the national capital's IGI airport told news agency ANI.

"Ballistics reports will confirm whether the guns are real or not... but, in a preliminary report, NSG (National Security Guard, the country's elite counter-terrorism unit) has confirmed that the guns are fully functional and can be used," the official told ANI.

The two were arrested and their child was handed over to her grandmother, the statement said. Both the passengers have also admitted their previous involvement in smuggling 25 pieces of assorted guns from Turkey with approximate value of Rs 12.5 lakh.