Firozabad, Jan 24 (IANS): Two men have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad for allegedly operating an illegal weapon manufacturing unit.

Police recovered a huge cache of country-made pistols and raw material.

During the interrogation, the accused told police that they manufactured weapons and sold and supplied them to neighbouring districts.

Additional SP Kumar Ranvijay Singh said, “Due to the upcoming elections, a drive to bust such gangs is being conducted across the state. A team from Linepaar police station busted an illegal weapons factory and arrested two persons. Efforts are being made to identify the remaining members of the gang. Investigation is on.”

He further said, “On getting a tip-off, a police team raided a half-built house and caught the accused red-handed. We recovered three country-made pistols, 12 bores, two country-made pistols 315 bores, five half-made pistols, 10 cord iron, machine and equipment for making pistols and two live cartridges, 12 bore and two live cartridges 315, drill machine, screwdriver, pliers, die machine, etc. from them.”

The accused -- Mahendra Singh and Ashok Kumar, are both local residents and Singh has several criminal cases registered against him, said police officials.