Patna: National Investigation Agency (NIA), in a joint operation with the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Bihar Police, on Monday raided at least 10 premises in Nalanda district in connection with illegal arms trafficking from the state to several locations of the northern part of the country.
NIA conducted raids at 10 premises including a gun shop, sources added.
Locations raided
The raids started at around 4.45 AM as several teams searched residences and places linked to suspects in the case, which was filed last year. The raids were mainly conducted in Laheri, Islampur, and Biharsharif areas of the district.
Sources said that the NIA sleuths seized a large number of documents and electronic items, including computers and cell phones. The operation was still going on at the time of writing the report.
Seizures made
The NIA had arrested Kamalkant Verma, also known as Uncle Ji, from Patna in December last year. He was identified as the 11th accused in the case (RC-01/2025/NIA/PAT). Investigations revealed that Kamalkant played a key role in the syndicate by procuring ammunition illegally from gun houses in Haryana and other locations. The ammunition was then smuggled to Uttar Pradesh and distributed further to Bihar and other parts of the country. A key accused identified as Mohammad Parvez was also arrested from Laheri locality in Nalanda district last year. As many as 1300 bullets, including those of AK-47 bullets, were seized from him.
Earlier, Bihar Special Task Force (STF) chief, Kundan Krishnan, had raised the issue of ammunition being diverted from the legal gun houses to an organised network thriving underground. The NIA had conducted searches at around two dozen locations across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Haryana in December last year, leading to the arrest of four people and seizure of a large cache of arms and ammunition.
