BIG PROFITS ARE MADE FROM FIREARMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19269, 5 January 1931, Page 7

BIG PROFITS ARE MADE FROM FIREARMS.

SMUGGLERS SUPPLY THE UNDERWORLD WITH GUNS.

. Revelations of the extensive smuggang into Britain, of revolvers and ammunition—a state of affairs suggested by recent attacks on the police by armed criminals—were made to the Sunday Chronicle” recently. Although the police permit system, under which only a man of proved good character can possess a revolver, is highly efficient in many ways, there is evidence that these regulations are being evaded by criminals to an alarming extent. Gun-running, in fact, has become a very profitable business again, and big profits are being made by underworld agents who cater for the rapidly increasing band of criminals in this countrywho “pack a gun.” The men mtrrhase revol-

vers in small- quantities abroad, chiefly in France, and sell them at a greatlyenhanced price in London and the larger provincial cities of England. The usual price demanded is £lO for a .3S calibre automatic pistol with a of 25 rounds of ammunition, and this is readily paid by members of the underworld who are contemplating crimes of violence. The actual gun-running is done bv persons of both sexes, who go either on conducted tours to Paris or as trippers with day or short period return tickets to Boulogne. On arrival in France the weapons are purchased one at a time at different gunsmiths, often in various towns So that no suspicion is aroused, and are then packed in waistcoats which are worn next to the skin. Properly packed, an operative can import as many as ten revolvers, each with a packet of cartridges, in one of these waistcoats with perfect safety. The cost of these guns in France is in the neighbourhood of £2 each, so that one trip will bring in a profit of £BO, less the expense ot the journey, usually not as much as £lO. Another method of import at the moment is by the fast motor-boats used in smuggling at the mouth of the Thames. Inquiries made by “Sunday Chronicle” correspondents reveal the fact that the real cause of this traffic is the laxity of the French laws in tid^nirchase