Patna: Government railway police (GRP) on Thursday seized 64 unfinished country-made pistols from a train in Bhagalpur district, around 248km southeast of Patna.

Acting on a tip-off, a GRP team searched the general bogey of Upper India Express and found five boxes - with the unfinished weapons in them - in the toilet. A member of the raiding team said the consignment was to be delivered to a Munger-based arms supplier.

"The seized pistols were manufactured at a Kolkata-based illegal arms unit," said a member of the GRP team.

Bhagalpur GRP inspector Srikant Mandal said the unfinished weapons were wrapped in a Bengali newspaper.

"They were kept on the basin of the toilet which was closed from outside. Someone might have been watching from a distance, but he managed to escape," Mandal said.

The Bhagalpur GRP recently launched intensive checking of trains, especially those originating from Bengal.

"We have been tipped off that arms dealers now manufacture weapons in Bengal-based illegal units and send them to Munger for final touches by skilled labourers," said an investigating officer.

Munger's illegal weapons, said police sources, are in great demand in illegal arms markets across the country.

"The quality is better than guns manufactured elsewhere," said the officer.

Bengal's Ansansol and Howrah regions are considered the biggest suppliers of unfinished arms to Bihar, according to the officer.

Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manoj Kumar said the district cops recently unearthed mini gun factories in the river areas.

"The illegal weapons were supplied mainly from Akbarpur police station area of the district. The arms suppliers prefer to transport their consignments by train," the SSP said. "Mainly, unfinished illegal arms are imported to Bhagalpur from Bengal and other places these days."