Agartala: Naresh Chakma, 40, was arrested with three .22 calibre pistols and 500 rounds of live ammunition at the railway station in the Badharghat area here on Thursday morning, hours before the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tripura.

GRP officer in-charge Kishore Das told The Telegraph that Chakma, who was arrested following a tip-off, boarded the Tripurasundari Express from Dimapur in Nagaland on Wednesday and reached here on Thursday morning at 6.

He was apprehended at the railway station where he was frisked and the arms recovered. He claimed he worked as a part-time cloth merchant. After preliminary interrogation, Chakma said he was about to sell the weapons across the border in Bangladesh. Interrogation is on as the detainee was making "contradictory statements", Das added.

Superintendent of police (control) Pradip De said Chakma was a resident of Natunbazaar in South Tripura district, 75km from here. A knife was also recovered from his possession. His family has been informed.

Tripura shares a 856km border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced. Several parts of the state's bordering region are frequently used to smuggle goods and contraband.