Kolkata: In a breakthrough, the joint team of Kolkata Police and the STF of Bihar Police several illegal weapons during a raid in an illegal arms factory in Bihar's Munger. Seven types of raw materials used to manufacture those arms were confiscated.
According to sources placed in Lalbazar, the headquarters of Kolkata Police, a surprise raid was conducted at the house of one Mohammed Manjir in Munger which yielded seven 0.7mm pistols, four lathe machines, a pistol manufacturing machine and several cartridges.
A senior official in Kolkata Police who is in charge of STF said in a recent meeting, commissioner Manoj Verma had alerted the crime branch about the changing patterns of illegal arms manufacturing and trade in Bihar after which the raid was conducted by a special unit in collaboration with their Bihar counterpart.
Verma had claimed that illegal arms dealers were planning to set up their business in Kolkata and its outskirts in a novel method. Close surveillance in many suspicious areas of Bihar and Jharkhand helped the STF yield positive results in bringing down the instances of illegal trade. To evade the police, the gang espoused a new modus operandi by bringing the dismantled arms manufacturing machines in parts to Kolkata and its fringes instead of sneaking in arms directly.
Gradually several illegal arms manufacturing units sprouted in Kolkata and its outskirts where the members are renting houses to set up the trade. The landlords, lured by inflated rent amounts, are also not checking the papers of the tenants before renting out making it easier for the members of the gang. Verma asked the personnel to remain cautious.
Lalbazar believes the Munger crackdown has dampened the trade and sent the dealers to backfoot in a major way.
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