11 security guards arrested for bringing shotguns home

SHAH ALAM: Police have arrested 11 security guards for bringing the shotguns assigned to them home after finishing their duties guarding banks at Sabak Bernam.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said they conducted a series of raids on Tuesday (Feb 6) and Wednesday (Feb 7) after monitoring the guards for about a week.

“Some of the guards kept the shotguns under their beds, some kept them inside cupboards, while some kept the weapons in their car.

“During the monitoring, we noticed that some of these guards simply carried the weapons by slinging it on their shoulders while riding their motorcycles,” he told reporters on Friday (Feb 9).

He said they seized 11 shotguns and 55 live shotgun shells during the raids.

“The security guards have been released on police bail while we investigate the case for failing to comply with any condition subject to an arms permit under Section 8(b) of the Firearms Act.

“During questioning, some of these guards alleged that their employer, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, told them to bring the weapons home after work,” he said, adding that they were actually supposed to hand the weapons over to their employer once they concluded their duties.

He explained that the employer should keep the weapons in a vault.

“In such instances where the employer is in another state, it is the employer’s responsibility to set up another branch close to the security guards’ place of work and prepare a vault where the weapons could be stored safely.

“Our checks have shown that this was not the first time guards employed by this company had committed similar offences. In 2015, a guard in Perak was also caught for bringing his weapon home,” he said, adding that the company could lose its firearms permit.

He said the Inspector-General of Police Secretariat (Firearms Licensing) enforcement team conducts ongoing checks to ensure that firearms permit holders always comply with the regulations.