Smuggled, Stolen, and Homemade Guns Flood Egypt's Streets

Egypt Independent

27 June 2011

Relevant contents

Purchasing personal firearms is legal in Egypt, but there are rigid licensing laws…

In an attempt to curb the spread of weapons, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) recently announced that any Egyptian who turns in an illegal firearm before 30 June will be able to do so without fear of prosecution…

The guns that are now ubiquitous around Egypt come from a variety of sources, but guns stolen directly from police stations concern police the most.

"The call to hand in the guns is actually directed at those who took them from the stations," said Tarek Sirri, a major in Cairo's General Security…

Smuggled AK-47s go for LE15,000 to LE20,000…

With the big guns out of reach, many Egyptians, particularly those in exceptionally poor communities where crime rates are often higher, tend to opt for cheaper weapons known as fards, hand-crafted handguns that shoot 16mm and 12mm shotgun cartridges…

The rise in demand for weapons during and immediately after the uprising caused prices to shoot up significantly. Despite increased supply, however, increased demand has kept prices high. During the zenith of the security vacuum, however, prices of the locally made fard shot up to LE1000, while decent sawed-off shotguns sold for LE2000…

Prices of AK-47s even went up to LE30,000, but settled back to between LE17,000 and LE19,000. In the US, where these weapons are available for legal purchase, prices range from US$500 to US$800 (or about LE3000 to LE5000)…

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https://www.egyptindependent.com/smuggled-stolen-and-homemade-guns-flood-egypts-streets/