Cell Phone Guns - U.S. Customs on Alert for Smuggled Phone Weapons

By (past articles)

03/11/2004

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At first sight, it looks like a regular cell phone, but beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol - a phone gun capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the otherwise standard keypad.

European law enforcement officials - stunned by the discovery of these deadly decoys - say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in Europe.

"We find it very, very alarming," says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police union. "It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone."

Although "cell phone guns" have not hit America yet, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Customs Service say they've been briefed on the new weapons.

"This criminal invention represents a potentially serious threat to law enforcement and the public," said U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. We have alerted our field personnel to be on the lookout for "cell phone guns" at U.S. ports of entry.

Cell Phone Guns Smuggled Internationally

These new covert guns were first discovered in October when Dutch police stumbled on a cache during a drug raid in Amsterdam. In another recent incident, a Croatian gun dealer was caught attempting to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe.

"If you didn't know they were guns, you wouldn't suspect anything," said Ari Zandbergen, spokesman for the Amsterdam police. "Only when you have one in your hand do you realize that they are heavier," says Birgit Heib of the German Federal Criminal Investigation Agency.

The guns are loaded by twisting the phone in half. The bullets fire through the antenna by pressing the keypad from numbers five to eight.

Amsterdam police say they are very sophisticated machines constructed inside gutted cell phones which do not light up or operate as real phones. "These are very difficult to make. We believe experts are involved," said Zandbergen.

America on Alert for Covert Cell Phone Weapons

U.S. authorities, including the FBI, ATF, Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Customs Service Authority have been supplied detailed information and pictures of these new weapons. "They've been given a heads up," said Jim Crandall, ATF spokesman.

To date, no phone guns have been discovered in the United States, authorities say. But they know it's only a matter of time.

Source: ABCNEWS.com, story by Lucrezia Cuen, London