A Cuban man was arrested for manufacturing an arsenal of weapons in his house in Italy.

The Italian police officers arrested a 22-year-old Cuban youth this Thursday for turning the basement of his house in Rome into a clandestine laboratory, where he manufactured an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, authorities reported in a statement.

The Cuban, identified as Edgar Molina, had numerous weapons in the basement of his home, including a dangerous completely homemade submachine gun, a gun repainted with a partially worn serial number, another gun that repels dogs, and one shaped like a pen, also built by himself.

Molina also kept a loaded revolver under his bed pillow.

During the property search, the Carabinieri (militarized police) found, in addition to weapons, numerous materials and precision instruments, such as lathes, saws, and tools, necessary for the production of the devices, as well as handwritten instructions in Spanish by the young man, with the blueprints for manufacturing the weaponry.

With the help of the Carabinieri bomb squad from the Provincial Command of Rome, two large homemade tear gas canisters, gunpowder, and materials for making dangerous pyrotechnic devices were also seized.

Similarly, the agents found 100 homemade cartridges and 20 grams of hashish.

Molina was arrested and taken to prison suspected of the crimes of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, and illegal manufacturing of weapons and ammunition. The Italian police are investigating whether the young man was working for more structured criminal groups.

His arrest took place at his residence in Villaggio Falcone, in the Ponte di Nona neighborhood, by carabinieri from the Settecamini police station in Rome and the operational unit of the Tivoli company, according to the Rome Prosecutor's Office.

The police had carried out a raid in that area of the Italian capital after an 81-year-old woman, identified as Caterina Ciurleo, died from a stray bullet during a shootout between criminal gangs on May 23, as reported by Italian media.

The agents decided to search Molina's house because he had previously been arrested for drug trafficking, and at the scene, they discovered "a young man who was willing to wage war," investigators said.

The Cuban is considered by the police "to have full capacity to build, modify, and increase the power of various weapons."

The statement also noted that the case is in the preliminary investigation phase and "the suspect must be considered innocent until a possible final sentence".