New Delhi: When you first learn about Moh Bai, it is difficult to believe that the 40-year-old woman, dressed in a simple Indian saree that covers her head and a bindi decorating her face, is one of the proclaimed offenders and on the watch of Delhi Police’s Special Cell.
Her innocent demeanour helps her mask her real identity of an illegal arms-supplier who travels across the NCR and parts of Uttar Pradesh to provide weapons to criminals.
Moh Bai is a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Umarti village, which is now the new hub for manufacturing and supply of illegal weapons in the NCR, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand among other states. Earlier it was Bihar’s ‘Mungeri katta’ that was in great demand but due to the constant surveillance and checking at various routes, the weapons from Munger have lost their market. The dissembled weapon parts and raw materials are now bought from Munger and manufactured in factories located in Meerut, Ghaziabad and other areas.
According to sources, Umarti, which shares its border with Maharashtra, manufactures at least 150 weapons every month. These are mostly the semi-automatic pistols or one-shots. While the semi-automatic pistols are available at a price of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, the one-shot pistols are available for a mere Rs 3,000. Many villagers from this new weapon hub have turned suppliers. Moh Bai is also one of them.
Her modus operandi is simple yet complicated. She travels to Delhi, mostly alone, carrying a bag, looking for rickshaw and bargaining for fare like any ordinary person. A civilian can never suspect her of carrying illegal weapons in her bag.
A senior Special Cell official said, “She never takes a direct bus or train to Delhi. She always breaks her journey to evade the law enforcing agencies.”
While coming from Umarti, she first goes to Gwalior and then takes another bus to Delhi. She first makes stopovers at two-three places and never comes to Delhi directly. “Once she got off before the bus stand at Agra and from there she took a three-wheeler to the bus stop. She then sat in a Delhi bus,” said the official.
Mostly, she takes a bus as it is easier to carry the weapons in it. She uses a travelling bag to carry weapons and cartridges and covers them with her clothes to avoid suspicion. She keeps the bag confidently in the bus’s dickey. Train journeys are riskier as most railway stations have screening machines.
Moh Bai is paid Rs 3,000 and above each time she supplies the weapons. The rate also depends on the amount of consignment she carries. On most occasions, she delivers the consignment and returns the same day to avoid suspicion.
She has been arrested twice by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell. The first time was in 2014 when she was nabbed with nine semi-automatic pistols and bailed out after a month. “Each time she promises not to get involved in this business but she goes back and starts weapon supplies again,” said the officer.
Moh Bai was arrested the second time in July 2017 along with 14-semiautomatic pistols, all to be delivered in Delhi. She was coming from Shashtri Park and was standing on the road going towards Seelampur. She was waiting for another carrier who would have then taken the consignment from her and delivered it further but was caught on the basis of a tip-off.
During the searches, the police found 14 pistols with ‘Made in USA’ and ‘Made in England’ written on them. Her bag had four different kinds of semi-automatic pistols. She is again out on bail and back to doing the same business.
No one suspects a simple, innocent-looking woman to be a supplier of weapons to criminals in NCR and that’s why she has been picked for the job, said the source. She has been part of the ‘profession’ of illegal weapons supply for more than a decade now. A proclaimed offender, Moh Bai is on the radar of Special Cell.
The number that she had given to the Cell is now switched off. One of the police informers told the team that she is back in the business. She travels less frequently to Delhi and each time uses a different route.
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