MOSCOW, September 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service FSB has quashed an inter-regional crime ring of black market firearms traders engaged in smuggling firearms from the European Union countries and Ukraine to Russia for selling in several territories.

As the FSB public relations centук has told ITAR-TASS, “the organizer of the criminal business was detained on September 19 during an attempt to sell another batch of firearms.”

In cooperation with the Interior Ministry’s Criminal Police Force the FSB carried out detentions in six regions of Russia.

“As a result, four underground workshops where firearms were repaired or upgraded and ammunition manufactured have been eliminated. A total of 136 pieces of firearms were confiscated, including one home-made large calibre artillery piece, three World War II mortars, 11 machine-guns, 62 handguns and revolvers of Russian and foreign manufacture, 32 automatic rifles (including World War II models), and 27 rifles and carbines.

Also, the FSB and criminal police seized two thousand main parts of firearms, 13,500 pieces of ammunition, 15 mufflers, a hundred pieces of cold steel, three grenades, 10 kilograms of explosives, 17 detonators and also equipment for firearms manufacturing, including machine-tools.

The confiscated weapons will be scrutinized by experts.

The detainees are being checked for complicity in grave and very grave crimes committed in Russia.