KARACHI, Nov 7: Over 40,000 weapons of prohibited bore have been issued to civilians from ‘Malkhana’ over the past eight years, Dawn has learnt.

The weapons have been released by the home secretary against permits issued by the federal government.

Malkhana is a central depository where weapons, ammunition and contraband goods seized in raids by law-enforcement agencies are kept, even after the disposal of cases by courts.

Sources said that earlier only personnel of law-enforcement agencies were allowed to obtain weapons from Malkhana for their personal use, but the weapons of prohibited bore had been liberally issued to ‘influential’ civilians since the year 2000.

Under the law of the land, weapons of prohibited bore include AK-47 rifles, MP-5 rifles, G-3 rifles, 222 rifles, 7.62 rifles, 44 rifles and 8 MM rifles. Their licences are issued by the federal ministry of interior.

An official of the home department, explaining the procedure for obtaining such weapons, told Dawn that the home secretary enjoyed the sole authority of issuing the weapons of prohibited bore.

“Only a licence or a permit for a weapon is a prerequisite for the issuance of the weapons,” the official said.

Sources said that well-connected people looking for a weapon of their choice first paid a visit to Malkhana to find out about the availability of that particular weapon before proceeding further.

Insiders told Dawn that a nominal price, which was generally less than half the original cost of the weapon, was deposited in the government treasury. If a weapon cost, say, around Rs50,000 after import in the market, the same type could be obtained for as low as between Rs10,000 and Rs12,000 from Malkhana.

The procedure for issuance of weapons of prohibited bore differs from that of Nazarat where vehicles are issued on so-called ‘Supardari’.

In the case of a vehicle released on ‘Supardari’, it is supposed to be returned to the authorities when the rightful owner claims it and, therefore, there is no cost of the vehicle attached.

But in the case of the release of a weapon of prohibited bore, there is no question of it ever being returned to Malkhana once it has been issued. That was the reason why a nominal cost of the weapon was obtained from the person to whom the weapon was released, an official of the home department said.

According to a copy of the list detailing the record of beneficiaries obtained by Dawn, the weapons of prohibited bore were released to businessmen, politicians, member of national and provincial assemblies, landlords, owners of private security agencies, government officers and influential citizens. Addresses of some beneficiaries were omitted from the list, fuelling speculation of foul play in the issuance of such weapons.

Obtaining a weapon’s licence was considered an uphill task in the past, but the ‘weapon-friendly’ policies of both the previous and present governments liberalised the process of the issuance of licences, the sources said.

Over the years, the practice of releasing weapons has become more of a public relations exercise on the part of the home secretary, the insiders alleged.

Sources in the police department said that the location of Malkhana on the premises of the City Courts rendered it vulnerable to acts of subversion because despite the sensitive nature of the deposits the place remained unguarded for all practical purposes. They added that there been some unsuccessful attempts at the breaking into of Malkhana in the past.

A senior police officer, who chose not to be named, made out a strong case for the establishment of a mechanism whereby the ill-armed police department could procure weapons from Malkhana at discounted rates.

However, an official of the home department, who spoke to Dawn on the condition of anonymity, defended the practice of issuing weapons from Malkhana against nominal payments. He said that currently there was no mechanism for the disposal of weapons seized in raids.

“We cannot auction off the weapons of prohibited bore the way vehicles are disposed of by Nazarat. The weapons get rusty and become junk if they are not maintained.”

However, he was open to the idea of these weapons being given to law-enforcement agencies.