Nearly 1,800 unregistered ‘guns’ seized under police gun clearance operation
A total of 1,789 unregistered blank-firing guns and BB guns were seized by the police between October 9 and 11, while 1,593 suspects had been apprehended under the so-called “Gun Clearance Operation”.
National Police chief Pol General Torsak Sukwimol on Thursday led a press conference to report the result of the operation, which aims to get rid of all kinds of illegal guns, including real guns, modified guns and blank-firing guns.
The police campaign came on the heels of the mall shooting incident in Bangkok on October 3, in which a 14-year-old boy used a blank-firing gun that was modified to take real bullets to open fire in Siam Paragon shopping mall. Two foreigners were killed and five were injured, before the suspect was apprehended by police.
Torsak said that between October 9-11, officials had investigated 3,224 suspicious locations nationwide and arrested 1,593 suspects. They also seized:
- 1,789 items of unregistered blank-firing guns and BB guns
- 219 items of firearms registered under different names than actual owners
- 75,973 items of ammunition
Torsak also tasked the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau to comb over social media and shut down accounts suspected of links to illegal guns. The operation saw 79 Facebook accounts being shut, as well as 14 accounts on Tiktok, 148 on X (formerly Twitter), 14 on Instagram, and 26 YouTube channels.
