NYPD busts illegal gun ring

NEW YORK (AP) -- Police have arrested a New Jersey couple and four men from Virginia and Georgia on charges they formed a gun-trafficking ring that smuggled dozens of firearms into New York City.

Authorities said Monday that the arrests came after an undercover detective purchased more than 80 guns from the couple during dozens of meetings in Manhattan. They said the couple from Rahway had bought the guns from the four men on road trips to the South.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said there was evidence that the southern defendants knew the firearms, including eight assault weapons, were being resold in New York. He said the case was another example of the potential for guns bought legally in states with lax gun-control laws to fall into hands of criminals elsewhere.