KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — The authorities are hot on the heels of a gun salesman who has been offering an arsenal of weapons for sale on Facebook.
The anonymous man had over the past week offered a range of guns and ammunition costing between RM4,000 and RM15,000.
An AK-47 rifle was being hawked for RM12,000 while a Smith & Wesson model (500), a single-action large calibre revolver, including two boxes of ammunition were available for RM15,000.
Also available were cheaper pistols for RM4,000.
But soon after the page, called “Malaysia Gun Shop,” caught the attention of Facebook users and the city police, it was taken offline.
City CID chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah said police have started an investigation after being alerted to the page by Facebook users.
“We initiated an investigation to track the person who created the page as soon as were alerted to it.”
Ku said whether the Facebook page owner actually had the weapons, or was simply posting pictures, is still under investigation.
“We are working with the cyber crime department and other authorities to track him down,” he said.
The case is being investigated for weapon trafficking and possession of firearms.
A check on the page by The Malay Mail on Facebook before it was taken down saw the gun salesman posting various pictures of weapons for sale.
The page was only created a week ago.
Many who came across the page condemned the gun salesman, telling him that what he was doing was illegal, with some even threatening to report him to the authorities.
However, he defended himself by saying he would carefully choose his buyers and would not sell them to criminals.
On another posting, the salesman also tried to prove that he really had the guns by posting a picture of a piece of paper, dated August 12, 2013, with the name of a person who had condemned him and placing a gun beside it.
The picture was posted on the page.
Ku urged those with information to contact the nearest police station or Rakan Cop Hotline or SMS 32728.
