Kolkata: The Malda District Police have unearthed an illegal firearms factory in Kaliachak on Saturday morning. Two persons, identified as Md Tamrez and Sahabuddin alias Saheb, have been arrested. Owner of the factory Md. Farid Shaikh managed to flee just before the police arrived.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint raid was conducted by Mothabari and Kaliachak police stations at Shersahi village in Kaliachak, Malda. During the search operation, sleuths found 24 iron-made improvised pipe gun having butt, body, barrel including firing pin, trigger and hammer of different sizes and in working condition. Some unfinished one shoters were also found.
Apart from weapons, a large number of arms manufacturing tools and equipment such as lathe machines and cutting tools were seized.
Sources informed that since past few years, both Tamrez and Sahabuddin were running the factory.
Originally, both of them hailed from Munger district in Bihar. According to locals, they were running this illegal arms factory camouflaged as a grill manufacturing unit. None of the locals suspected that something as dangerous as this could happen behind the so-called grill manufacturing unit.
It also came to light that both Tamrez and Sahabuddin used to travel to Munger on regular interval. On Saturday, Police Superintendent of Malda, Arnab Ghosh said: "We raided the house working on a source information. We will interrogate them further for more."
Alarmingly, this illegal arms factory was running just opposite to the Alipur II Gram Panchayat office. But nobody could get a whiff as both of them pretended to be labourers working in
the factory.
Sources informed that the owner of the grill factory is still on the run. Police are trying to track him down.
Sleuths suspect that there is more to be unearthed in this case. The arrested persons were just working for some people. The kingpin of this racket is someone else.
Both Tamrez and Sahabuddin were brought from Munger to manufacture weapons here, as carrying finished fire arms from Bihar is very risky.
According to police sources, since last 14 months, police have unearthed three such illegal firearms
factory in Malda.
Again, just before the festive season in Bengal, another arms factory has been found. Keeping the facts in mind, senior police officials as well as all the Inspectors-in-Charge of police stations under Malda District Police have been alerted.