Bangkok police seize big cache of modified blank pistols, airguns
Police have confiscated several hundreds of blank pistols and high-pressure airguns, along with almost 100,000 pieces of ammunition during a raid on two Bangkok locations.
A 50-year-old man, identified as Sithipoj Wanphen, was arrested during a police search of a house in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district, Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Kornchai Klaiklueng said on Thursday.
The man was in possession of a number of blank pistols he was about to send to customers at a parcel-delivery company.
His arrest led to a search of a shop in Saphan Sung district, where 2,103 blank pistols, 142 airguns, over 100 accessories, and almost 100,000 ammunitions, were stored, according to Kornchai.
The suspect, Sithipoj, produced a permit issued by the Department of Provincial Administration for the sale of blank pistols as “firearm imitations”. However, as the blank pistols are modified for use with real bullets, they are no longer “firearm imitations”, the CCIB chief said.
The suspect was charged with selling firearms and ammunition without permission.
Kornchai said that the modified blank pistols have been popular among gun aficionados and vocational school students as they resemble real ones but are priced much lower, at 5,000-6,000 baht apiece.
“The guns can be used to kill people, particularly at point blank range,” the police officer said, pointing to recent gun attacks involving vocational school students.
Records show the Police Scientific Crime Detection Division has had to deal with an average of over 100 blank pistols every month — or up to 1,500 per year — that were sent for examination. Most of them were modified and used in crimes.
