MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - The Federal Security Service (FSB) has conducted an operation against illegal arms manufacturers in 44 regions of Russia, as part of which it discovered 165 perpetrators, seized large quantities of weapons and ammunition, and shut down 40 illegal workshops.
"The Russian Federal Security Service, acting in collaboration with the Russian Interior Ministry and the Russian National Guard, has neutralized the illegal activity of 165 individuals who restored the combat capabilities of civilian weapons in illegal workshops and sold those weapons in 44 constituent territories," the press service said.
Forty illegal workshops which upgraded weapons and made ammunition have been shut down, the FSB said.
The operation was conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, the republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Mordovia, North Ossetia-Alania, Sakha (Yakutia) and Khakassia, the Donetsk People's Republic, Kabardino-Balkaria, in the Altai, Transbaikal, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorye, Stavropol and Khabarovsk territories, and in the Astrakhan, Amur, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Leningrad, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Oryol, Penza, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions.
As many as 399 Russian and foreign-made weapons were seized. These include three machine guns (PK and RPK), 46 automatic weapons (AK-12, AK-103, AK-105, AK-74, AKM, AKS-74, AKMS-74U and AR-15), 36 submachine guns (Bizon, Kedr, PP-90, PPS, PPSh, Scorpion, MR-40, PM-63 RAK, SA-26, VZ-26 and Uzi), 107 rifles, carbines and guns (Bars, Vepr, VPO, Izh, Mosin, MP, Saiga, SVD, SVT, SKS, TOZ, Mauser, Hatsan, TG-2 and Winchester), and 207 pistols and revolvers (APS, Korovin, Margolin, IM, PSM, PYa, TT, Astra, Beretta, Colt, CZ-75, Glock, Luger, Mauser, Stalker, Walther, Nagant, and Taurus), the FSB said.
In addition, the FSB seized Igla MANPADS, Fagot guided anti-tank missile systems, two missiles for Konkurs guided anti-tank missile systems, 19 grenade launchers and flamethrowers (MPO-A, RPG-7V, RPG-75M, RPG-18, RPG-22, RPG-26, RPO-A and RShG), five anti-personnel mines (MON-50 and MON-100), 140 hand grenades (K-51, RG-42, RGO, RKG-3, RGD-5, RGD-33 and F-1), and 109 various modifications of detonators and fuses.
Over 59 kilograms of explosives (gunpowder and TNT), 387 artillery shells, more than 71,000 cartridges of various calibers, and 517 main parts for firearms were also seized.