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SCMP Reporter

AN official ultimatum for gun-runners in Guangdong to surrender has sparked fears in Hongkong of a new flood of firearms into the territory.

  A circular, issued by the provincial authorities, ordering all arms smugglers to surrender to the Public Security Bureau within 30 days with their weapons and ammunition.

 Those who failed to comply would face stern penalties, according to the Yangcheng Wanbao in Guangzhou.

  But the move has come under fire in Hongkong, with critics seeing the territory as a potential dumping ground for surplus stock.

  Meeting Point legislator Mr Zachary Wong Wai-yin said Guangdong officials had failed to consider the consequences before issuing the directive.

  ''I am sure they are looking to secure their own crime situation, but we had hoped for more co-operation. They were not thinking of us when they made the decision,'' Mr Wong said.

  A police spokesman said they had not been notified of the move by either of the two Chinese security liaison officers stationed here since the Lunar New Year to improve cross-border law enforcement.

  Despite the concerns, several police sources warned the ''propaganda'' from Guangdong might not achieve the intended results.

  ''These types of directives are working less and less simply because the criminals are getting harder in their approach,'' one police source said.

  Smugglers were becoming bolder in running guns into the territory with a growing demand for high powered weapons.

  Although the spate of daring daylight robberies have subsided in recent months, police have seen a wider variety of firearms hit the streets. Not all of them were attributable to China, the source said.

  While gun-runners were targeted by the circular, Guangdong authorities also ordered all residents to renew their registration of firearms bought from licensed shops within 60 days.

  Failure to do so would result in charges of illegal possession of firearms.

  The authorities claimed rising cases of illegal manufacturing, smuggling and selling of weapons resulted more armed criminal activities.

  They had earlier banned the manufacture and use of imitation pistols.

  More than 300 of the dummy pistols were confiscated in Guangdong last year but police there estimate there are about 10,000 more still in circulation.

  The weapons, which shoot steel pellets or tear-gas, are perfect imitations of the originals and were used in the killings of 100 people, four of them police officers, last year.

  The dummy pistols were used by thieves as well as by companies and individuals to protect themselves. Last month two provincial company directors used them in a duel which left one of them dead.



Concern at surrender ultimatum on weapons