A joint police team on Tuesday evening raided a house in Madhusadanpur, located in Bihar's Bhagalpur area, and found an active improvised firearms factory on the first floor.
The operation, conducted on the basis of intelligence inputs received by a joint team of the Kolkata Special Task Force (STF), Bihar STF, and the Madhusadanpur Police, has led to the arrest of five people at the house registered to an M. Nasir Ansari.
The five people who have been arrested have been identified as M. Monazir, M. Shadab Ali (alias Saddam), M. Aslam (alias Tinku), M. Samsher Alam (alias Chotu), and M. Shahanawaz.
Four of them are said to be expert arms makers, while one is said to be the co-owner of the house, which was operating under the guise of the spinning mill business on the ground floor. Those arrested are all said to be residents hailing from areas under the Kashimbazar Police Station in the Munger district.
Police sources say that during the search, the following articles were recovered from them: 20 semi-finished Indian-made 7.65 mm pistols, eight pistol barrels, two milling machines, one drill machine, one grinding polishing machine, and one hand grinder, among other things.
They added that an investigation is currently underway to trace the factory's supply network and uncover possible links with illegal arms manufacturing rackets.
According to Madhusudanpur Police Station Chief, Safdar Ali, the house was rented eight months ago by a man named M. Faisal, who allegedly ran the factory and is currently absconding. Police teams are currently engaged in finding Faisal and the accomplices of those arrested, a Jagran report said.
The report added that in 2022, the police had busted a mini-gun factory in Champanagar, at which time a case had also been registered against Faisal.
He eluded the STF and remained at large. However, the report added that almost two months later, Faisal reportedly surrendered in court, and after his release from jail, resumed his illegal arms manufacturing business.