Patna: The Special Task Force (STF) of the state police on Sunday night conducted a special drive against illegal arms smugglers and arrested three persons - Krishna Prasad, Parwez Alam, Naresh Kumar.

The police also recovered 1,350 rounds of cartridges and .315 bore rifles from them.

The Bihar STF received a tipoff about movement of some arms smugglers in the Phulwari Sharif area. Based on the inputs and directive from state STF inspector-general Kundan Krishnan, the security force conducted the raid and arrested the trio who were travelling in an SUV.

Krishnan said: "We had input about movement of some arms smugglers in the area and based on this, the police conducted the raid."

The SUV used in the operation, bearing a Jharkhand registration number, was also seized from the spot. The ammunition was sent from Kanpur for delivery at Biharsharif.

A team from the Kanpur ATS is also camping in Patna. The police are also probing for whom the consignment was meant.

In another incident, the Patna police ATS and Vaishali's Mahnar police on Monday conducted a raid and arrested two criminals along with eight gelatine bombs. The arrested criminals have been identified as Sachindra Sahni of Nauragpur and Raja Kumar of Lodipur area.

According to Mahnar police, the Patna ATS had information that some criminals in Vaishali district were planning something big. Based on the input, the police conducted the raid and arrested Sahni and Raja, who, sources said, confessed that bombs were being supplied by one Allahuddin. The police raided Allahuddin's house but he managed to escape.