Kolkata: A joint team of the Kolkata Police STF, Bihar Police STF, and Madhusudanpur police in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district busted an illegal firearms manufacturing unit operating out of a residential building. Five people were arrested and semi-finished pistols along with machinery used to manufacture weapons were seized, police said.The gang, sources said, had attempted to smuggle arms ahead of the assembly elections in Bengal. The raid was carried out based on intelligence developed by the Kolkata Police STF, officials added.The operation was carried out on the first floor of a house owned by Md Nasir Ansari in Rahamatbagh under Bhagalpur’s Madhusudanpur PS. Police said the ground floor of the building functioned as a spinning mill, while the first floor housed an active illegal arms manufacturing unit.“Five people, including a co-owner and four skilled arms makers, were arrested on the spot. Four of them are residents of Kashimbazar in Munger, Bihar,” said Additional CP Solomon V Nesakumar.Police said they recovered 20 semi-finished 7.65 mm pistols, eight pistol barrels, and several machines and tools. The seized equipment included a lathe machine, two milling machines, a drill machine, a grinding and polishing machine, a hand grinder, and a large quantity of tools and raw materials.
