Jamshedpur: The special task force (STF) of Bihar police busted an arms racket operating in Bihar and Jharkhand by unearthing an illegal arms factory in Adityapur Industrial Area and confiscating 102 semi-automatic 9 mm pistols on Thursday.
Police said five persons were arrested in connection with the arms racket from the two states so far.
Bihar police reached Jharkhand by following the trail of the Munger-based arms manufacturing and supply racket. They arrested one Mukesh Kumar from Munger, notorious for manufacturing of illegal arms and recovered 50 ready to assemble pistols from his possession.
Based on the interrogation of Mukesh Kumar, a veteran arms supplier, a joint team of Bihar STF and Seraikela-Kharsawan police arrested four other arms suppliers Rakesh Sharma, Afroz Alam, Miraj Alam and Ibrar from Adityapur Industrial Area. Krishna Kumar, owner of the factory, run under the name of Vijay Laxmi Enterprises, is at large, police said.
“Our men recovered 102 pistols from Vijay Laxmi Enterprises,” Inspector General (IG Operations) of Bihar police, Amit Kumar said.
The arrested persons were running the gun factory ‘Vijay Laxmi Enterprises’ in Seventh Phase of Adityapur Industrial area, which was busted.
Several milling, drilling and lathe machines, as well as other equipment were seized by the police from the factory. An FIR has been filed in the local police station, said the Bihar IG.
“We had been gathering intelligence on this gang for sometime as it was very active in this region. It used to disassemble pistols and carry them unnoticed via rail routes all over Bihar and neighbouring states,” the IG said.
In Jamshedpur, DIG (Kolkhan), Mohammad Nehal told media-persons that the possibility of some arms manufactured in the unit being sold to extremists and criminal groups could not be ruled out.
The DIG said it was being investigated whether the gang had any link in Kolkata, from where they used to procure raw-materials for making fire-arms.
The gang’s marketing network is being investigated, he added.
In two other raids, conducted at Barachatti police station area of Maoist-infested Gaya district, the STF seized 8 kg of opium, 400 kg ganja, a rifle and a country-made pistol.
Altogether nine persons have been arrested in this connection, the police added.