Police on Monday seized a stockpile of illegal guns and ammunition, and arrested a man on suspicion of running a firearm factory in Taoyuan, the Criminal Investigation Bureau announced yesterday.
The bureau coordinated with Taipei and Taoyuan police to conduct the raid on a rented house in Yangmei District (楊梅).
“The factory was in the basement and is quite a sophisticated operation, with assorted machinery for modifying and producing firearms,” said Captain Su Li-tsung (蘇立琮) of the bureau’s First Investigation Corps.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
The suspect is a 52-year-old mechanic named Tai Kuo-chang (戴國璋), who has a criminal record for embezzlement and burglary, Su said.
“We seized all the firearms, parts and machinery found at Tai’s place. It was like he had stockpiled a small arsenal in there,” Su said, estimating the total worth to be more than NT$10 million (US$324,538).
The bureau displayed the confiscated items: six modified rifles, 11 modified handguns, seven rifle barrels, 15 model guns, 406 9mm bullets, 521 shotgun pellet rounds, 5,700 9mm shell casings, 50 other shell casings and several sets of firearm parts, including rifle stocks, magazines and other metal components.
Police also found sets of metal tools and machinery for modifying and creating firearms, including metal cutting and milling machines, lathes and an air compressor.
Police had received tip-offs about the factory and observed Tai for some time before conducting the raid, the bureau said.
Tai purchased model guns in bulk for below-market prices of about NT$20,000 each, then modified them to shoot live rounds, investigators said.
He then sold them on the black market for about NT$200,000 to NT$300,000 for a handgun and about NT$800,000 for an assault rifle, they added.
Tai during questioning denied the allegations, saying that he modified the guns as a hobby and did not sell them, police said.
His cousin needed a storage place for his interest in “toy guns,” but after the cousin died two years ago, he kept them in the basement, Tai was quoted as saying.
“The metal-working equipment and tools were for repairing electronic gaming consoles and were owned by a friend. They had nothing to do with modifying firearms,” police quoted Tai as saying.
Su said it was a profitable business, as Tai has two luxury vehicles: a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz.
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