Customs officials have arrested a Polish national with a gun and bullets from the Tribhuvan International Airport during a security check.

Adam Ryszard Adamus [passport number: 1652409] had flown into Nepal by a Qatar Airways flight on Wednesday evening.

According to Nepal Police, Adamus had an air rifle, which had ‘made in China’ written on it, and three packets of .177 caliber bullets in his luggage. The seized gun is said to be a ‘Benjamin trail NP rifle’.

Gajendra Kumar Thakur, chief of airport customs, told the Post, “When the arms and ammunition was seized by the customs officials, the foreign national continuously insisted saying that it was just an ‘air gun’.”

An air gun is a kind of gun that launches projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are pressurized mechanically without involving any chemical reactions. The air gun is mostly used for sport, hunting, firearm training or for leisure.

“Since we had no intelligence over arms, we handed Adamus to the airport police along with the seized gun and bullets,” said Thakur. “There was information on the rifle saying that it can be harmful if misused.”

According to the airport police, Qatar Airways was also unaware that Adamus had arms and ammunition in his luggage.

“Once the Customs handed over the Polish national to us, we enquired about him with Qatar Airways. The station manager of the airways said that they were unaware of any passenger boarding the flight with arms and ammunition,” chief of Metropolitan Police Airport Security Office SSP Sandip Bhandari told the Post.

“Since it is illegal to bring any kind of arms and ammunition into the country, we handed Adamus to the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala for further legal procedures,” said Bhandari.

As the Polish national has been insisting that the rifle is harmless, it has been sent to the Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory for tests.

“Once the report arrives from the laboratory, we will start the legal procedure against Adamus on the charge of possessing illegal arms,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Sunil Malla, in-charge of Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala.  

The article ‘Dangerous Toys for Teenagers: Air Weapons’ published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information has listed four cases of serious injuries due to air gun in children aged 10-15 years.

The article also states that about 3.2 million air guns are sold and approximately 30,000 air gun-related injuries, mostly involving children, are reported in the United States annually.

During the preliminary interrogation, Adamus has said that he brought the gun for his friend who works at Lincoln College in Gongabu, Kathmandu.

“Adamus has said that his friend had requested him to bring the gun which he (friend of Adamus) had ordered online,” said a police source on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“The friend who Adamus cited will also be interrogated. There are legal procedures which a citizen should follow before they want to possess any arms,” said the source.