The special task force of Kolkata police, in a joint raid and search operation with Bihar police, busted an allegedly illegal arms factory in Bihar and arrested three men on Saturday.
Police said the arms from this factory had its supply networks in Bengal.
An officer of the special task force said the arrests were made based on specific inputs from Kolkata police.
The joint raid was carried out at Gopalpur village in Ahmadabad of Bihar early on Saturday.
“An illegal firearms manufacturing unit was unearthed at the location and three
persons, suspected to be the kingpins of the racket, were arrested,” said a senior officer of the Kolkata police.
Officers identified the three as Dharmendra Kumar, 30, Abhishek Kumar, 25, and Vikas Kumar, 23. All three are residents of Bihar, the police said.
Three country-made single-shot firearms, one lathe machine, one milling machine, one drilling machine and a huge quantity of working tools and machinery were seized.
That apart, a large number of iron bars were also seized from the factory, the officer said.
“The arms that were manufactured and supplied from this factory have their supply networks in Kolkata,” an officer of the Kolkata police said.
Although none of the racketeers had earlier been arrested in Kolkata, the city police have dug out links between them and the chain of arms supply from Bihar to Kolkata, the officer added.
After the joint raid, the trio and the seized materials were handed over to the local police station for further investigation.
“It is vital to maintain intelligence about the arms supply networks so that their illegal movements can be stopped and attempts of smuggling of arms into Bengal can be thwarted,” said a senior officer of the Kolkata police special task force.