Man held with Uzi pistol in Mumbai

8220;This is a highly sophisticated weapon and one of the most dangerous close combat weapons. The weapon we have recovered is a submachine pistol with a magazine capacity of 32 rounds. In the Indian market such a weapon would cost between Rs 4 lakh to 5 lakh,8221; added Maria.

Police sources revealed that Tawde was also involved in drugs peddling. In 1996, he was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence during a seizure of 102 kg of mandrax tablets. He was released in 2006 after serving 10 years of imprisonment.

8220;Investigations are on to find out how the weapon was smuggled into the city. Tawde has named a few buyers but we can8217;t disclose anything at this stage,8221; said Maria.

In 2002, the Mumbai Police had recovered another Uzi mini-carbine from two members of the Chhota Shakeel gang.

What8217;s a Uzi

A compact, lightweight submachine gun, Uzi was first designed by Major Uziel Gal of the Israeli Defence Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The initial model was accepted in 1951 and was first used in a battle in 1956. It was soon developed into a number of better engineered variants.