KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Gun smugglers are trying to outsmart the authorities, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar said one of the ways the smugglers were trying to get on top of the law was by bringing in guns in parts.
“They don’t smuggle the whole weapon. Instead, they break it down into parts and bring it in and reassemble them here,” Wan Junaidi (BN-Santubong) said.
“We don’t have advanced means to scan lorries from Thailand. It takes two hour to check a lorry, but we cannot stop lorries coming in because we have transactions with Thailand,” he said.
However, Wan Junaidi said, the ministry was taking steps to secure the borders, including a proposal to move a village in Kelantan further away from the Thai border.
Answering a question from Anthony Loke (DAP-Seremban), he said a total of 1,097 illegal weapons were confiscated between 2008 and this year.
From that, 406 were semi-automatic pistols, 165 revolvers, 31 rifles, 91 shotguns, 120 air guns, 22 pump guns, seven submachine guns, 38 hand-grenades and 218 homemade firearms.
Wan Junaidi said the seized weapons were kept as court exhibits.
“After the court cases are concluded, the courts decide on whether the firearms are to be destroyed or otherwise,” he said.
In another supplementary question, Loke asked what the Home Ministry and police were doing to ensure the 1,097 guns would not disappear.
He also said that only seven guns out of the 44 lost by the police in 2012 had been found.
Wan Junaidi said that as a former police officer, he knew the procedures for handling weapons.
“If someone loses a firearm, they must make a report. In the report, they will state the type of weapon, where and how it was lost,” he said, relating how he had seen a fellow police officer hauled up for dropping a gun in a river during a struggle.
He said those who lost their guns were charged and that of the 44 cases, 24 officers were charged and the rest were under investigation.
