Men from Bihar nabbed, illegal firearms factory busted in poll bound West Bengal

Two men from Bihar’s Munger district were arrested from an illegal firearm manufacturing unit in the Kaliachak area of West Bengal’s Malda district, late on Saturday night, said police. The unit was located in a slum where mostly rag-pickers live, it added.

The raid was jointly conducted by the local police and the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police.

The arrested men were identified as Md Azam and Md Faruque, STF officers said. They are in their early thirties. The police have started a manhunt for the person who was funding the operation.

The unit was located in the Kabari Chandpur village in the Alipore-I panchayat area. One finished and seven unfinished semi-automatic .32 caliber pistols were seized during the raid along with a large quantity of tools and some ammunition.

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An official said on condition of anonymity that information about the unit was given by a man who was arrested by the STF in Kolkata a few days ago.

“The men from Munger came to Malda to make illegal arms. The rag-pickers provided a perfect cover for the unit. Since a lot of outsiders come to the village to buy discarded plastic goods for recycling, the arms business was running without arousing suspicion among local people,” the officer said.

In 2018, Kaliachak police unearthed a similar factory at Shersahi village and recovered 24 firearms.