This has emerged from research by RTL Nieuws, which has been keeping an eye on the illegal sale of these converted alarm and gas pistols. In arms trade chat groups with thousands of members, these pistols are offered for sale, often for a pittance compared to ‘real’ pistols.
You can see how that works in this video.
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Due to the low price, the pistols are especially popular with young people and young adults. The police are concerned about that. “It all sounds innocent, converting such a thing, but it is certainly not”, says Arjan de Zwart, head of the Rotterdam criminal investigation department. “This is a big problem. We must prevent these weapons from becoming as common as knives to young people.”
Offer on Telegram and Snapchat
In recent months, hundreds of converted alarm guns have been offered for sale on various chat apps such as Telegram and Snapchat. Sellers advertise photos and videos of their guns showing the date and their username (see photo below), so buyers know they are not dealing with a scammer. If a buyer is interested, he also takes a photo of cash with the date and username.
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The police are aware of the offer on chat apps and are trying to get a grip on it: “If someone offers something, we try to make a sale and thereby arrest the seller. This has been successful a number of times. proved “, said a spokesman. “But the offer has grown, we see that too.”
It is not only ‘boys in the attic rooms’ who convert alarm pistols, says De Zwart: “They are also gangs that convert these weapons on a large scale. The buyers vary enormously, from young people and adults who find such a thing interesting, but also criminals who want to kill someone. “
Popular among the youth
The converted emergency pistols are popular with juvenile criminals. Some of them buy such a gun as a stalwart, for example to show it off on social media or to show it to friends. “But once you have such a thing in your pocket, you also want to use it, with all the consequences that entails,” warns De Zwart. The converted alarm pistols often cost 200 to 300 euros. For a ‘real’ firearm such as a Glock, you can easily pay a few thousand euros.
Police estimate that 40 percent of illegal weapons possession is gas and emergency pistols. In 2019, 1,473 gas and emergency pistols were seized, in 2020 this number grew to 1,885. The ease with which many of these types of pistols can be ordered and converted into weapons that fire bullets is a concern for the police, especially now that the trade via chat apps is increasing significantly.
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Alarm and gas pistols
Gas and alarm pistols are pistols that do not fire bullets, but firing cartridges, for example for the start of running races or to chase animals away. Young people under 18 are not allowed to own a fire pistol, adults only specific models; for example an alarm pistol with a closed, square and short barrel. These cannot be converted to a working firearm and do not look like a real pistol.
Emergency pistols with a round and long barrel are prohibited in the Netherlands, whether they have been converted or not. If you walk around with a fake or alarm gun that is also suitable for threatening someone, for example because it looks very similar to a real firearm, you can get nine months in prison for it.
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Alarm pistols from Turkey
A large part of the converted alarm pistols on offer are of the Zoraki model of the Turkish Atak Arms. These types of weapons are widely circulated and easy to obtain in Turkey, says Middle East correspondent Olaf Koens, who lives in Istanbul: “Once you pay attention, you will see them everywhere. The parking attendant has one, the security guard in the shopping street. Many Turks have a firearm at home, or these kinds of alternatives that are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. “
“They are for sale in many places. On the one hand they sell accessories for mobile phones, on the other hand these types of weapons. You often come across them at weddings, then it is tradition that they shoot with a big bang. To wish the bridal couple happiness and joy. This is of course dangerous with real bullets. These weapons are an alternative, although it is still a fright. “
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To Europe
The Turkish alarm pistols are sent to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain and Germany, where these weapons are allowed to be sold, and thus enter the European Union, according to various weapons experts. The pistols are then brought to the Netherlands by car, truck or mail. There they end up with criminals who convert the alarm pistols into weapons that fire bullets.
Conversion is relatively simple: many alarm pistols have a blockage so that projectiles cannot be fired. You can get it out with a drill and sometimes even a screwdriver. Most converters put in a completely new loop. The cartridges in the magazine are then replaced by real bullets. It often concerns 9 mm cartridges.
The cartridges are also sometimes converted by inserting a bullet. It often happens that the pistols falter when fired or sometimes even explode due to the conversion.
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Make money fast
The converted alarm pistols are in circulation within the criminal circuit, but due to the low purchase price, these weapons are also used by minors to threaten each other. A minor girl shot a house with an alarm gun and received twelve months of juvenile detention at the end of 2019.
The guns hit the headlines recently when two boys aged 17 and 18 were convicted of converting and selling them. The 17-year-old boy’s father helped them with the trade, including by making his garage box and tools available.
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The converted alarm pistols are used in criminal circles and are more difficult to trace than normal pistols because they are not registered. “But do realize that you can shoot someone with it,” says Gert Kaaij, the lawyer for the two boys. “It’s so easy. You buy some of that junk in the Czech Republic, go drill a bit and then you can use it to fire real bullets.”
But with the youth “it feels different,” he says. “There is a kind of mutual pride when they succeed in converting an alarm pistol. They all have the feeling that things are not going well. The question now is: how can we tackle this socially so that it gets through to them? that these weapons are really dangerous? “
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