(MENAFN- Live Mint) A major inter-state illegal arms manufacturing and trafficking racket was busted by the Pune police on Saturday. The racket was being operated from a village in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district.

The police have detained 36 persons during the raid, and have seized a huge cache of weapons, officials said.

Pune police officials said on Saturday that a crackdown was launched in Madhya Pradesh 's Umarti village, located around 500 km from Maharashtra's Pune city. The raids were conducted after several pistols were seized in Pune over the last three weeks, with the supply links found in MP.

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During the operation, carried out jointly with the MP police, 50 furnaces, where weapons were being manufactured illegally, were destroyed, they said.

“The Pune police conducted a combing operation in Madhya Pradesh. During the investigation of cases registered at the city's Vimantal and Kalepadal police stations, we received multiple inputs about the pistol-making units located in MP. Police from Pune and Madhya Pradesh jointly carried out this action,” Pune's Joint Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma said at a press conference.

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"Raids were conducted at several locations and arms-making units were demolished. A total of 36 people were taken into custody," he said.

Over the past three weeks, a total of 21 pistols were seized in Pune. During the interrogation of the accused held in the city, it came to light that the weapons brought to Pune were sourced from Madhya Pradesh. After that, this operation was planned and carried out, the official added.

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"This is a supply chain of weapons. Search is on for those who sent these weapons to Pune. Many more individuals are involved in this racket, and inquiry is still underway," the Joint CP said. A team of 105 police personnel from Pune, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Somay Munde, took part in the operation.

(With PTI inputs)

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