With the recent spate of shooting cases in Malaysia these couple of months — the shooting and killing of a real estate agent in Taman OUG and the assassination of a money lender in Setapak — one must be wondering; ‘Are guns really that cheap and easily bought’?
The answer to the questions above is a very shocking yes.
The Thailand police have recently revealed that homemade firearms could be bought for as cheap as RM50.
Narathiwat police chief Major-General Pattanawut Angkhanawin told the Thailand media, as reported by The New Straits Times, that these homemade firearms — believed to be brought in from northern Thailand — are highly sought after in Malaysia due to its low price.
“It is easy to recognise these firearms because they do not have serial numbers and are not in good shape. These weapons are in high demand in Malaysia,” Pattanawut was quoted as saying.
He added that the firearms could be easily bought from individuals or members of drug syndicates.
However, what’s even more disturbing was the fact that a lot of these guns were allegedly smuggled in via legal routes – the Immigration and Custom complexes.
Pattanawut told reporters that the Thai police believed that more and more firearms were smuggled into Malaysia each year, although he could not ascertain the exact number.
“It could not be denied that home-made Thai firearms have made their way into Malaysia. I was informed that there were two ways to send them to Malaysia. First, the weapons are bought by Malaysians from certain individuals here and later smuggled by suppliers across the border.
“Second, some firearms are already in Malaysia, smuggled in by Thais to sell to interested Malaysians,” he was further quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian authorities have denied claims that illegal guns were smuggled in through official checkpoints, saying that it’s “impossible” for smugglers to do so.
Customs Department director-general Khazali Ahmad told news portal Malaysiakini that Customs and Immigration officers are trained to identify suspicious-looking individuals at entry points and that checkpoint scanners are able to detect firearms.
The illegal firearms, according to Khazali, were believed to have been transported through porous border points between the two countries instead.
“We hope locals who are aware of smuggling activities along our border inform our authorities,” he was quoted by the news portal as saying.
