The factory was discovered after the arrest of a gun runner who was caught with fabricated guns.
Troops of the Nigerian Army uncovered an illegal arms factory in Wamba Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, after arresting a gun runner in the area.
According to a statement signed by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Sani Usman, troops had arrested a certain Mohammed Bello at Akwanga highway and interrogated him after he was caught with fabricated guns in his car.
It was Bello who led the soldiers to the location of the arms factory allegedly run by a blacksmith gun fabricator named Dan Asabe Audu.
Audu was arrested with several calibre of weapons at the factory which he was said to have been running for a long time.
Brigadier-General Usman said, "Troops of Nigerian Army on internal security operations deployed at Akwanga highway Nasarawa State, today Wednesday 10th January 2018, arrested a suspected gun runner, Mohammed Bello, in an Opel Vectra Saloon Car with the fabricated guns heading to Saminaka to link up with his gang leader Damina Saminaka.
"During preliminary interrogation, the suspect claimed to purchase the weapons for Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000.00k), from a blacksmith gun fabricator named Dan Asabe Audu, who reside at Angbo Village, Wamba Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
"Determined to get to the root of the matter, the troops further went to the village where they found out that indeed Dan Asabe Audu has been in the business of illegal arms manufacturing for criminals for quite sometime.
"They found a complete arms factory with equipment and the products at various stages of production.
"Specifically, the troops recovered 3 completely locally fabricated guns, 20 locally fabricated guns at various stages of production, 7 units of 9mm empty cases, one 9mm blank ammunition, 2 drilling machine, 1 power generating set and 3 mobile telephone handsets."
The army also revealed that the suspects would soon be handed over to the relevant security agency for further investigation and prosecution.