India, Aug. 10 -- Police have arrested a "key member of an inter-state illegal firearms syndicate" and recovered a large cache of weapons including 10 semi-automatic pistols from his possession on Wednesday evening, in a major crackdown ahead of Independence Day, officials said on Saturday.

According to the police, the accused, identified as Amit Kumar, 29, a resident of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, was nabbed near the Kos Minar roundabout in Jasola by the Special Task Force (STF) of Delhi Police's southeast district.

The arrest yielded 10 semi-automatic pistols of .32 bore, 20 live cartridges and seven extra magazines, in addition to the 10 standard magazines supplied with the weapons - a total of 17 magazines, said deputy commissioner of ...