Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has seized around 360 barrels during a raid at an illegal weapon manufacturing factory in Surat. Three persons have been arrested in connection with manufacture and sale of illegal weapons till now.
The raid was launched in Surat as part of an illegal arms trade probe that was launched following arrest of one of the accused in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district some days ago. Currently, ATS team is camped in Surat to probe into the case.
ATS has revealed that raw materials used for manufacturing illegal weapons were procured from other states by the accused and brought to Barwani, Khargone, Burhanpur and Dhar districts of the state.
Notably, 10 days ago ATS had raided a factory in Khargone and seized 434 barrels from there. ATS arrested Sarnam Singh (32), resident of Dhavadi village of Khetiya police station of Barwani district from Sendhwa in connection with illegal arms trade. During initial interrogation, the accused told that he temporarily stays in Prabhunagar area of Surat and supplies raw material and barrels used in manufacturing illegal weapons to Madhya Pradesh.
Based on this information, ATS formed a team and raided Yogesh Engineering Works running in Harinagar Udhna in Surat and seized 360 barrels from the factory.
Prior to which, on March 19, ATS busted an inter-state network of illegal arms trade operating in Seigneur under Goganwa police station area of Khargone district. Based on a tip-off from an informer, ATS took Gurubakht Sikligar, resident of Khandwa from Khargone into custody.
After interrogating the accused, a factory was raided at Seigneur in Khargone and a huge amount of barrels, spare parts and raw materials used in pistol manufacturing were seized. During investigation, ATS came to know that every month more than 500 barrels were coming from Surat.
A case was registered and accused, Rahul Yadav and Gurubakht Singh, were arrested. From this factory, ATS recovered five pistols, two semi-finished pistols, eight live rounds, one semi-finished barrel, one semi-finished upper slide, four fiber butt grips, 192 chamber barrels, 96 shutter groove squares, one saw, one grinder, one pliers, one crowbar, a chisel, a round gouge and an iron hammer.
After which, ATS arrested Sarnam Singh from Sendhwa on the basis of information from the arrested accused. It has been found that there are 17 active camps in Dhar, Barwani, Khargone and Burhanpur districts of Madhya Pradesh.
Read more
