MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service FSB) has uncovered 55 underground gunsmiths in 21 Russian regions, seizing over 220 firearms and shut down 27 clandestine gun-making workshops, the FSB press office told TASS on Monday.
"The Federal Security Service in interaction with the Interior Ministry and the Russian Guard foiled the unlawful activity of 55 residents in 21 Russian regions complicit in recovering the combat properties of civilian guns at underground workshops and in their sale. As a result, 222 domestic and foreign firearms were seized from the illegal circulation. The activity of 27 underground workshops for weapons’ upgrade and ammunition production was terminated," the press office said.
The security operation was carried out in Moscow, the Republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia and Ingushetia, the Trans-Baikal, Stavropol, Primorye, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Belgorod, Vladimir, Vologda, Ulyanovsk, Kostroma, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Pskov, Tver, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk and Chelyabinsk Regions, the press office specified.
The FSB operatives seized three machine-guns, six assault rifles (AKS-74U, AK-103 and AKMS), 12 submachine-guns (PPSh, Kedr, Czech VZ-26), 108 rifles, carbines and guns, 93 pistols and revolvers, and also 52 artillery shells, 57 hand grenades, two mortar projectiles, about 8,000 cartridges, guns’ basic parts and components, 7.5 kg of explosives (gunpowder and TNT) and 57 silencers, the press office said.
The work to expose and shut down the unlawful activity related to the illegal production, re-making and sale of firearms continues, the FSB said.