In a coordinated intelligence-based operation, a notorious gun-smuggler was arrested by the Thane police and seized from him a country-made machine gun, 20 pistols and 280 live cartridges.
The purpose of smuggling such a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is being probed.
This is one the the biggest seizures in recent times in Mumbai-MMR.
The accused was identified as Surjitsingh Aavsingh alias Maja (27), a resident of Umartigaon in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh.
Based on the tip-off that the Wagle Estate police station received, it coordinated the operation with Unit-5 of the Crime Branch.
Thane police chief Jai Jeet Singh personally supervised the operation.
The suspect was trying to smuggle the weapons from Dhule district along the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh boundary.
He was produced before a Thane Magistrate court, which remanded him to police custody till July 18, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shivraj Patil told reporters on Wednesday.
“We are questioning the accused and trying to find out the conspiracy for which the cache of arms was sneaked into the state. We are also trying to ascertain who it was intended to be delivered and to track down other accused in the case," police officials said.