India's most notorious illegal arms supplier 'Salim Pistol' arrested in Nepal

India's most wanted illegal arms supplier, Sheikh Salim alias 'Salim Pistol', has been arrested in Nepal, police said on Saturday.

According to officials, Salim Pistol was arrested by the Delhi Police special cell and Indian security agencies in a joint operation with the Nepal Police.

For years, Salim had been supplying sophisticated weapons from Pakistan into India. Investigators have found evidence linking him to Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, and Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company.


Salim Pistol was a key supplier of arms to top gangsters, including Lawrence Bishnoi and Hashim Baba. His name surfaced in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case as well.

He was arrested by Delhi Police in 2018, but later managed to flee abroad. Recently, intelligence inputs indicated that he was hiding in Nepal. Acting on the tip-off, security agencies tracked him down and arrested him.

A resident of Seelampur in Delhi, Salim's name had earlier cropped up in the Baba Siddiqui murder case. His network spanned across India and Pakistan.

According to the police, Sheikh Salim, a resident of Jafrabad in Delhi, dropped out of school after completing Class 8 and initially worked as a driver.

Salim's criminal career spans decades, beginning with vehicle theft in 2000 when, along with his associate Mukesh Gupta alias Kaka, he stole multiple vehicles. He was arrested on May 25, 2000, and booked under sections 379, 411, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Over a decade later, he was implicated in a high-profile armed robbery in Jafrabad on August 7, 2011, involving Rs 20 lakh. He was eventually arrested on September 18, 2013, and charged with offences under sections 395 and 397 of the IPC.