Two Indian nationals carrying 45 pistols were arrested by customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.
An investigation is underway to determine if the guns are real or not. The counter-terrorism unit National Security Guard (NSG) that is investigating the case report that the guns look 'completely real'.
"But in a preliminary report, National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed that the guns are fully functional," a customs official said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The two arrested have been identified as Jagjit Singh and Jaswinder Kaur who happen to be husband and wife.
The couple had returned to India from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on July 10 and had been kept under surveillance. Jagjit Singh was caught with the pistols in two trolley bags, given to him by his brother Manjit Singh.
Manjit Singh reportedly gave the bags to Jagjit Singh in Vietnam after landing in the country from Paris, France. After handing the bags, Manjit Singh "slipped out of the airport", a statement from customs officials stated.
According to customs officials, the female passenger helped her husband remove and destroy the tags of the trolley bag that contained the guns.
"Further, examination of these two trolley bags carried by passenger -1 (male passenger) resulted in the recovery of 45 pieces of assorted brand guns having approximate value of â¹ 22.5 lakh," the statement added.
Both the accused have admitted that they had previously brought 25 pistols to India from Turkey.
Further investigation into the incident is underway.