MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service has thwarted the activity of a large clandestine network of arms dealers active in 19 regions across Russia.

The group of 39 individuals configured firearms from civilian weapons and also manufactured rounds of ammunition, the FSB said.

Officers have seized 76 pieces of firearms made in Russia and abroad, including machine guns, rifles, submachine guns, carbines, handguns and pistols. Some 3,000 rounds of ammunition, more than eleven kg of explosives, eleven fragmentation hand grenades and seven detonators, as well as five suppressors and components for producing weapons were found.

"Four clandestine workshops for modernizing weapons and producing ammunition were eliminated," the FSB said, noting that an effort was underway to thwart illegal activity related to manufacturing and selling arms.