Selling fake guns: Duo guilty

Kota Kinabalu: A China national shop owner and a shop manager were fined RM1,800 or two months jail each by the Magistrate’s Court, Wednesday, for having imitation guns last year.

Shop manager Voon Chui Yun, 32, and the shop owner Chen Saihua, 38, pleaded guilty to having several types of imitation arms at Remax shop at the ITCC Complex in Penampang at 3pm on Oct 27, 2020.

They were jointly charged under Section 36(1) of the Arms Act 1960 which carries a jail term of up to one year or fine of up to RM5,000 or fine or both, upon conviction.

Magistrate Jessica Ombou Kakayun heard from the prosecution that police  raided the premises after suspecting it of selling imitation guns and seized various types of the items.

A report from the armaments branch of the Police Headquarters here confirmed that all the seized items were functional and found to resembled real weapons but not dangerous.

Counsel Batholomew Jingulam, represented Voon and Chen, requested for them not to be jailed and that they were willing to pay the fine on the grounds, among others, that it was their first offence and cooperated with the police investigations.

Batholomew said the imitation arms were toys.

He said business was not good due to the MCO and Covid-19 pandemic and that a friend of Voon asked her to sell the toys and she agreed just for the purpose of supplementing their severely affected income.

The items were not even on display and were kept in box and that not a single one was sold, said Batholomew, adding that he believed that Chen had no knowledge of the toys but that he was implicated as being the owner of the shop.

The court heard that Voon and Chen were remanded for three days and 10 days respectively and that the time spent under remand was also a form of punishment for them, said Batholomew.

The court also ordered that the confiscated items to be disposed by the prosecution.

Inspector Albert Basiri applied for an appropriate sentence.