Illegal arms workshops shut down in Bryansk - FSB
MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a group of four men in Bryansk on suspicion of illegally producing firearms, the FSB's press service said in a statement shared with Interfax on Tuesday.
"The FSB has stopped the activity of a regional criminal group involved in the illegal distribution of weapons and the operation of illegal workshops producing and modernizing firearms," the statement said.
The organizer of the criminal business and his three accomplices, who dug up WWII battlefields looking for old weapons and restored them, have been detained in Bryansk, the FSB said.
"The operation resulted in the seizure of 21 domestic and foreign firearms (submachine guns, handguns, revolvers, carbines, rifles, and shotguns), more than 100 basic weapon parts, and accessories," the statement said.
The FSB also seized four silencers, 50mm mortar shells, fragmentation grenades, electric detonators, 2 kilograms of explosives, and over 3,000 rounds of various calibers.
"Two illegal workshops modernizing firearms and producing ammunition have been shut down," the FSB said.
"The FSB's investigative division indicted the detainees under Part 2, Article 222 of the Russian Criminal Code (the illegal acquisition, distribution, possession, or transportation of firearms). The charges of illegally distributing explosives (Article 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code), and illegally producing firearms (Article 223 of the Russian Criminal Code) are pending," the statement said.