“The shop where the delivery was to be made has been closed for a long time,” said Customs Collector Muhammad Asif Marghoob Siddiqui at a press conference on Tuesday.
The anti-smuggling squad seized the large cache from the Khyber Mail at the Hyderabad Railway Station on October 15. The consignment was booked by M/S Najam and Sons Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer from Kohat Road in Peshawara for delivery to Saifuddin and Sons in Hyderabad’s Saddar.
Customs officials claim the shipment was an act of smuggling which “might have landed in terrorist hands”.
The wooden boxes contained 367 weapons and 59,880 rounds of ammunition. The weapons include 107 magazines, two lasers, 19 G-3 Remington automatic rifles, eight .30 pistols, 26 .12 and .30 shotguns and 314 .30 and 9mm pistols.
“All of them are imported from the US, Turkey and China,” said the collector. These weapons fall in the category of prohibited bore and thus cannot be transported.
Saddar is home to several arms and ammunition shops. The owner or employees of Saifuddin and Sons could be contacted. The neighbouring shopkeepers said that the shop had been shut for many days.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ