New Delhi: Delhi Police has slapped the stringent UAPA against notorious arms dealer Shahbaz Ansari, currently believed to be in Bangladesh. Arrested for supplying weapons that were used in the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala, Ansari fled the country after seeking bail and is now believed to be working with ISI-backed entities.Police said a lookout circular (LOC) has been issued against him, and steps are underway to seek an Interpol Red Notice. Efforts to trace and extradite Ansari have been intensified, officials said.
Recently, the crime branch arrested 10 of Ansari’s operatives and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition allegedly supplied by him to criminal gangs operating in Delhi. The haul included a Czech-made submachine gun, PX-5.7 and PX3 pistols, Brazilian Taurus, German Walther, Turkish Stoeger, Chinese Star and Italian Beretta weapons.Investigators said Ansari’s illegal arms network was rooted in Khurja in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district. His father, Qurban, had allegedly built an arms manufacturing and supply racket under the cover of a legitimate electrical switch factory. After Qurban’s death during the Covid-19 pandemic, the business was taken over by his sons.The UAPA was invoked after investigators uncovered a sophisticated cross-border logistics chain linking Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh to Delhi’s underworld. Police said Ansari is currently shuttling between Dhaka and Dubai. He reportedly travelled to Bangladesh along with his uncle and brother to set up a base there.The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Ansari in the Sidhu Moose Wala murder case in 2022. However, he jumped bail last year and went underground. Investigations revealed that in early 2023, he first sought bail by falsely claiming his wife was pregnant, followed by a fabricated excuse of his sister’s wedding.In June last year, he secured bail from a Patiala House court by claiming his wife, Gulfisha, required urgent “spine decompression surgery” at a Ghaziabad hospital. He soon disappeared. Police later found that the mobile number provided to the court belonged to an unsuspecting man in Assam, while the address listed for his stay had been vacated days before his release.
