Lucknow, Dec 17 (IANS): The city police Wednesday arrested a key arms smuggler in the state capital and recovered many sophisticated weapons, officials said.

Briefing media persons, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Yashaswi Yadav said the crime branch, Hazratganj police and the surveillance cell conducted the joint operation.

He said that more than two dozen foreign-made weapons, wildlife animal skins and a foreign made motorcycle were recovered from smuggler Tariq, who was arrested from the high security Butler Palace area here.

Tariq has admitted to "importing" foreign-made weapons through various websites and then reselling them.

Based on the leads given by him, police raided his flat in Nanpara House and recovered one gun, 17 rifles, two pistols, two revolvers, a gun identical to the AK-47, a gas gun that works on carbon-dioxide, a Taiwan-made blow gun, poison laced needles, three light weight bullet proof jackets estimated to be costing several lakh of rupees, three binoculars, animal skins and a currency counting machine.

The district police chief said the police team that unearthed the arms cache was shocked to see the sophisticated weapons, many of which were new to them. He added that police were now probing the international links of Tariq.