The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on June 20, conducted raids at 12 locations in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the smuggling of prohibited weapons from the Central Ordnance Depot, Jabalpur, which were supplied to various Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) groups and criminal gangs, reports The Hindu. “On the basis of credible evidence collected during investigation, searches were conducted in the houses of suspect Hulas Pandey and his associates at different places in Buxar, Bhojpur, Rohtas, Varanasi and Patna,” an NIA statement said. The NIA had taken over the investigation last year. The case pertains to recovery of three AK-47 rifles along with other weapons on the disclosure of accused Shamsher Alam from the house of his sister and accused Rizwana Begum in September, 2018. “In this case, a large number of prohibited weapons were stolen and smuggled out of the Central Ordnance Depot, Jabalpur to various Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] organisations and criminal gangs,” the NIA said. The NIA recovered one rifle, INR 2.9 million, four laptops, pen drives, computer, 12 mobile phones, cash receipts and ban details during the searches. NIA also arrested 15 accused so far and chargesheets had been filed against nine including alleged kingpin Purushottam Lal Rajak. In all, 22 AK series rifles smuggled from the depot had been recovered.