Bihar Police unearths illegal arms factory in Patna

PATNA: The Special Task Force of the Bihar Police on Wednesday unearthed a minigun manufacturing factory in Gulmahiyachak in Sabbalpur village under River police station area at Fatuha in Patna.
The STF also seized a regular carbine from a car after intercepting it at Mangrahat under Kinjar police station area in Arwal which was being brought to Sai Chak at Beur in the state capital.
Altogether, eight persons were arrested in connection with the factory while five more were arrested in Arwal.
STF sources said that Mohammad Sabir of Kasim Bazaar, Ankit Kumar alias Charan Choudhary of Suturkhana, Mohammad Kasim of Pakki Gali in Betwan Bazaar, Mohammad Asgar of Hazratganj, Mohammad Yusuf of Sakin Bazaar, all in Munger, Ravi Kumar of Jagatpur in Bhagalpur and Randhir Kumar and his younger brother Sandhir Kumar of Sabbalpur were arrested for their alleged connivance in running the factory in Fatuha along with smuggling arms and ammunition.
STF sources said that 20 partially manufactured semi-automatic country-made pistols, one lathe machine, a drilling machine, a milling with cutter machine and a grinder were seized from the arms factory.
A police officer said that from the interrogation of the arrested persons, it has come to light that they were running the factory clandestinely for the past two years.
“On an average, they were manufacturing 10 to 15 semi-automatic pistols per day and selling them to dealers in Munger and Bakhtiyarpur in Patna for Rs 6,000 to Rs 6,500. They were procuring raw materials uninterruptedly from Kolkata,” the officer said.
He said that masterminds were Kasim and one Munna of Sabbalpur area.
“Raids are on to nab Munna. The factory was being run at a house of one Ram Ekbal Mahto. He was being paid a monthly rent of Rs 16,000. Randhir and Sandhir are Mahto’s sons,” SHO said.
In Arwal, STF arrested Shambhu Kumar Yadav of Jamhaur in Aurangabad, Sanjit Kumar alias Chotu, Amarnath Mahto and Ajay Kumar of Danara in Bikram and Manjit Kumar of Mithapur, all in Patna while they were travelling to Sai Chak under Beur police station area with a regular carbine in a car.
Police said Shambhu, a property dealer, was sitting with his four-year-old son in the car to avoid suspicion.
“He was returning to his other house in Beur after purchasing the carbine for Rs 2.85 lakh from one Ramdip Sharma alias Deppi at Mau under Tekari police station in Gaya.
Immediate raids were conducted on Ramdip’s residence and money was seized. Ramdip, however, managed to flee from the spot,” he said.
Kumar said 11 live cartridges of different bores, nine cellphones and the car in which they were travelling were seized.
“Shambhu is accused in three criminal cases in Aurangabad while Sanjit, an arms smuggler, is accused in altogether nine cases at Bikram, Rupaspur, Bihta and Jakkanpur police station in Patna,” he added.