Patna, Sep 20 (IANS): A criminal was arrested in Bihar's Begusarai and an AK-47, two magazines, and 200 live cartridges recovered from him, police said on Monday.

Subsequently, three of his associates were arrested.

Police said that a raid was conducted at Kapasiya Chowk near the gate of Barauni oil refinery on Sunday night.

"We received information about some criminals assembling at Kapasiya Chowk on Sunday night. We immediately constituted a team which raided the place. The majority of criminals managed to escape taking the advantage of darkness. One of the accused failed to escape as he was busy hiding the arms and ammunition, and was nabbed.

"During brief interrogation, he broke down and revealed the place where an AK-47 rifle, 2 magazines, and 200 live bullets were hidden," Sub Inspector S.K. Sharma, who was part of the raiding team, said.

"In expectation that other accused may be arrested soon, we are unable to disclose the names of the arrested accused," he added.

Sharma said that the accused revealed the names of three more persons who escaped during the raid, and they were arrested on Monday morning.

The use of AK-47 is frequent in the crime world of Bihar, after it was first used by Ashok Samrat in early 1990. Besides gangsters and Bahubali leaders, its use is quite common among Maoist groups in Bihar.