Police bust illegal arms factory in Ashokenagar, 2 held

Kolkata: An illegal arms factory was busted from the Ashokenagar area in North 24-Parganas by the district Police and two persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the racket, police said on Wednesday.

After getting a tip, a team of special force raided the Pumila area of Ashokenagar on Tuesday night and recovered arms along with the equipments which are used for making the weapons. During the raid, the accused were arrested from the same area. They have been identified as Sudam Mondal and Manik Ghosh.

The investigators came to know that a racket has been operating from the area. On the basis of specific information, police on Tuesday night raided a house situated close the factory and arrested Mondal. Nine firearms were recovered from his possession.

After interrogating the accused, police came to know about the illegal arms factory. Accompanied by the accused, the police officers barged into the factory and seized a huge cache.

During the raid, Ghosh was inside the factory, who was later arrested. Both the accused were local residents who had been involved in the racket for quite some time.

Police came to know from the local residents that they did not have any idea about the illegal arms factory. According to the preliminary investigation, police suspect that the accused used to smuggle arms into other states and many other persons have been involved in the racket. Police are trying to know the names of the other accused.

"We have arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in manufacturing firearms and running an illegal factory in the area. We are conducting a thorough investigation into the matter," a senior police officer from the district said.

Several arms, including country-made pistols and machines used for the manufacturing of arms were seized. Police also suspect that after manufacturing the arms in the workshop, they were sold to the dealers who sold them to potential buyers at a price between Rs 35,000 to 50,000 per piece.

Police are also investigating if these arms were sold to customers from the neighbouring states. Police are trying to know the names of the other accused involved in the racket.