Cuttack: Four interstate criminals were apprehended during the March 13 raid on an illegal gun manufacturing unit, operating from a house at Bada Dhuleswar, a few metres away from Bayalish Mauza (Bentkar) police station, in Odisha’s Cuttack district.
The gun smugglers have been identified as Mohammad Azam alias Budhu (45) of Howrah, Mohammad Abid Hussein (49) and Mohammad Samser Allam alias Kallu (46) from Bihar’s Munger, and Sarat Chandra Yadav (58), the owner of the house where illegal arms were being manufactured.
The joint raid by STF and local police also led to seizure of a huge quantity of manufacturing materials for 7mm pistols, including 29 semi-finished improvised pistols, 80 pistol bodies, 14 sliders, 36 grips, 14 iron bars and 15 barrels. Sophisticated manufacturing equipment including lathe, milling, drilling and grinding machines, along with numerous hand tools and raw materials, were also seized.
The raid was conducted based on intelligence input regarding manufacturing/possession of illegal firearms by some interstate criminals, a police release said.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Arms Act-1959 and further investigation is underway.
Notably, an artificial cowshed was set up at the entrance of Yadav’s residence to conceal the illegal factory operating for the last one-and-a-half years. The accused had established a well-organised supply chain and sold each pistol for Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 across multiple states.