Berhampur: Continuing its drive against possession of illegal firearms in Ganjam district, Odisha police on Tuesday arrested 20 more persons and seized eight country-made pistols, 31 rounds of ammunition and 12 magazines at four police station limits. A car, three motorbikes and 14 mobile phones have also been seized from the possession of the accused persons, police said.

With these, police have seized a total of 25 firearms and 97 rounds of ammunition in the last one week in the district during a special drive launched to crack down on illegal arms, said Niti Shekhar, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Southern Range. A total of 37 persons, most of them history-sheeters, were arrested in a week, said the IGP.

While four firearms were seized and eight persons arrested in Kotinada police station area, five were picked up and two firearms seized in Hinjili police limits. Aska and Polasara police have seized one country-made pistol each and arrested five and two persons, respectively, the police officer said.

On May 4, in overnight raids in six police station areas, police seized 17 illegal firearms and 66 rounds of ammunition and arrested 18 persons in the special drive. “During the preliminary investigation, we found out the sources of the illegal firearms from outside the States, especially in Munger in Bihar. We will form a special team to find out the exact sources of the illegal arms,” said Ganjam SP Subhendu Kumar Patra.

The crack down on illegal firearms would continue in the district, the SP said. Raids are being conducted to prevent the possibility of organised crimes, police said.