MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Russia’s federal security service FSB has detained 28 bootleg firearms makers in 13 regions and eliminated 11 underground workshops that were upgrading weapons and manufacturing ammunition, the FSB’s public relations center told TASS on Monday.
"The federal security service in cooperation with the police and national guard Rosgvardiya has upset the activity of 28 persons in 13 regions of the country involved in restoring the combat capabilities of civilian weapons in bootleg workshops and in their marketing, including sales to recipients abroad," the FSB’s public relations center said.
The operatives seized 123 pieces of firearms of Russian and foreign manufacture and more than 9,000 cartridges.
"The activity of 11 underground workshops that upgraded weapons and manufactured ammunition was terminated," the FSB said.
The operation was held in the Republic of Karelia and the Primorye, Belgorod, Vladimir, Voronezh, Nizhni Novgorod, Leningrad, Moscow, Murmansk, Tver, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk and Yaroslavl regions.
On the list of the seized weapons there were 19 automatic rifles (AKM, AKS-74U, AK-103 and AK-104, special automatic rifle Val, 24 submachine-guns, 23 rifles, 57 pistols and revolvers, 15 mortar shells of different caliber, 12 hand grenades (F-1 and RGD-5), 165 key firearms components, 7 kilograms of powder and 20 blade weapons.