PETALING JAYA, 3 April 2009: Police raided a house near Sungai Buloh early today and uncovered a firearms lab and shooting range.
The raiding police team closed in on a 42-year-old man who turned out to be the ‘brains’ behind the laboratory and a gunsmith who trained four Indonesians on the use of an assortment of firearms.
From the house, the police seized six home-made firearms and firearm-making tools including steel-cutting machines, compressors, modified pumps, fire extinguisher tanks, welding machines and modified iron rods.
The man was one of nine people, including four Indonesians, who were arrested in five raids in Kampung Paya Jaras and Kampung Kubu Gajah between 9pm yesterday and 4am today.
Ten firearms of various types were seized in the raids.
Petaling Jaya police chief ACP Arjunaidi Mohamed said today: “What was shocking was that the house was used as a front to conceal a mini-firearms laboratory and a small shooting range to test the weapons.
“We are in the midst of determining whether the suspects were involved in crimes as the seized firearms were similar to the ones used in robberies.
“Our initial investigations revealed that 80 of such firearms have been sold and more were available in the black market at RM300 each, especially in Perak.
“The firearms and bullets were mostly produced, using iron rods and pipes available at most hardware stores.
“Each rifle took about two days to be produced and could shoot an object from a range of between 30m and 50m,” he said.
The police chief said that in the first raid, four Indonesians were detained in Kampung Paya Jaras.
Two rifles, believed to have been made at the laboratory, were seized from the suspects.
The arrests led to another raid at the house in Kampung Kubu Gajah where the ‘brains’ behind the firearms laboratory was nabbed.
Arjunaidi said four other suspects were nabbed in three subsequent raids in which a homemade rifle and an imitation Phyton .357 revolver were seized.
He said the syndicate was believed to have been in operation for some time, adding that one of the suspects had a previous record on drug abuse.
He advised those who had purchased or were in possession of homemade firearms to hand them over to the police.
“Producing, purchasing and possessing such firearms are offences under Section 33 of the Firearms Act 1960,” warned Arjunaidi. — Bernama
