Police reveal illegal weapon crackdown

 

NAKHON SI THAMAMRAT, 18th November 2016 (NNT) – The Royal Thai Police is undertaking a search to find the manufacturing origin of illegal firearms as weapons seized in raids were clearly self-made, says a deputy police chief. 

The Royal Thai Police Deputy Commissioner-General Pol Gen Sriwara Rangsipramanakul, at Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Police Headquarters has made an announcement on the raids to eliminate crime and narcotics, and has shown the media many of the seized guns and narcotics. 

He said most of the seized guns are self-made and bear no registration record, while police officers have been urged to trace the origin of these weapons by investigating machine shops and persons with a relevant criminal record in order to bring about an arrest. 

Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Police on 10th-16th November 2016 conducted raids and operations to root out criminals and local mafia gangs according to orders from the government and the National Council for Peace and Order. 

The operations have led to the arrest of 174 suspects charged with violations of the firearms and explosives act, narcotic dealing, and suspects from previous arrest warrants. 

49 guns of various sizes have been seized with 624 bullets, along with 2,018 Amphetamine pills, 132.88 grams of Methamphetamine crystal, 3,064.17 grams of dried cannabis, 2.5 grams of heroin, 163.84 grams of Kratom leaves, 34.15 liters of Kratom tea, and 77 bottles of cough syrup.

 

-- nnt 2016-11-18

A Thai 'crackdown' sounds like bush social. Nothing too serious but will turn up item or two for the locals talk about for a while.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

police officers have been urged to trace the origin of these weapons

So no one is actually tasked to conduct such investigations?

Surely having specific duties and responsibilities to conduct weapon investigations would be more efficient than "urgings" to produce results.

Self made guns now that's new. !!!!

5 hours ago, webfact said:

most of the seized guns are self-made and bear no registration record,

who would believe 55555555 Self made gun, without registration.... unheard

1 hour ago, lungnorm said:

Self made guns now that's new. !!!!

Not when you see some of these weapons . I would be to frightened to fire some for the possibility of them exploding mostly handmade shotgun pistols Hmmm

Great job, one and all.

Thailand guns at a market.

 

This was made with a 3d printer, so I guess anyone with access to said printer can start their own weapons manufacturing plant...... scary

Edited November 18, 20169 yr by sn1per
text

Most of the guns shown in the video are Tercel BB Airsoft models of real weapons. I have a Colt M1911 BB gun. Looks and feels like the real thing. Doesn't scare the pigeons tho'. 

There are Airsoft arcades where guys can go and play war games with these weapons.

Oh my another crackdown.  What day does it end?  Looks like they got some BB guns and leaves. 

Edited November 18, 20169 yr by Redline

Just let the idiots make their home-made guns.  It's a self-correcting problem when they explode. 

The handguns in the video are definitely all airsoft.  They are very realistic but you can see the gas release buttons on the magazines.  

 

I have no experience of black market guns but I guess that a lot are home made.  Others must be genuine weapons and some might be smuggled in from the Philippines where they have a cottage industry making quite good quality knock-offs.  The Thai home made guns I have seen on the internet are quite crude and are usually single shot .22 pen guns or single shot break action handguns chambered to take a 12 gauge shotgun cartridge.  Obviously the latter are extremely dangerous for the user.  Better quality replicas of famous models of handguns might be quite dangerous for users too, specially, if used with higher pressure cartridges.  The manufacturers are unlikely to have the right gauge steel available to withstand the pressures.  

 

A little known fact though is that the Interior Ministry has been flooding the country with discounted weapons under its Civil Servants' Welfare Scheme.  This scheme imports far more guns annually than the quotas allocated to licensed gun stores and just about civil servant, including village defence volunteers are eligible to buy the discounted weapons.  Many of them are reported stolen and disappear into the black market, which the owner just applies to buy another one with no downside.  Some of these have also turned up in the hands of criminals in neighbouring countries after crude attempts to file off the serial numbers.  Police have reported arresting Bangkok vocational students armed with .38s revolvers originating from the welfare scheme, lamenting that they are now armed by the Interior Ministry and don't need their single shot home made pen guns any more.  Given the sheer size of the scheme, one can assume it is extremely lucrative for a number of lucky people.