The Special Task Force (STF) of Bengal police arrested four members of a suspected arms supply racket from Deganga in North 24-Parganas on Thursday night while they were allegedly going to deliver a consignment of firearms in an app-based cab from Calcutta.

Acting on a tip-off, the STF intercepted the vehicle as it was passing on the Rajarhat-Haroa Road and seized four firearms, including two double-barreled guns and a 7 mm revolver, and 21 rounds of live ammunition from the cab.

According to STF sources, the cache of weapons had been sourced from Bihar and brought to Deganga for illegal sale. The vehicle was intercepted near Joker Beel under the jurisdiction of Haroa police station after the STF had received specific intelligence about the handover.

The four arrested men are Amirul Mandal, 33, Habil Mollah, 40, Abu Shahid Haji, 26, and Giasuddin Gazi, 24. They are all residents of Pukuria in Gopalpur 2 panchayat in Deganga. During interrogation, the four reportedly admitted that the weapons were intended to be sold for a large sum of money.

"The STF is investigating who bought these weapons," said an officer involved in the probe.

The four were produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM)'s court in Barasat and remanded in the STF custody for 10 days.

On February 15, the STF had seized 190 cartridges from different areas of North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas districts and arrested four individuals. The live cartridges included 7.65 mm calibre and one double-barrel gun of 12-bore, apart from nine live cartridges of 12-bore.

In November last year, an attempt had been made on the life of Sushant Ghosh, a Trinamool Congress councillor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, at Kasba in the city. Investigators found the involvement of criminals from Bihar in the incident. It was then alleged that weapons were being smuggled into Bengal from Bihar.

STF officials confirmed that the firearms recovered on Thursday night had also been brought from Bihar. "We are probing whether the weapons were being carried as part of a larger arms trafficking network. We have been tracking them for a long time," said an STF officer.

"We are trying to gather new leads during their custody and are searching for the masterminds."