Machine can make gun parts, attorney admits - Says client needed bullets for international occasion
Published:Wednesday | March 21, 2018 | 12:00 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
The machine at the centre of the controversial probe being carried out by the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) in Manchester can produce gun parts, according to attorney-at law John Junor, who is involved in the investigations.
He has, however, maintained that the machine was brought into the country legally through Customs and was duly declared.
"It is used for manufacturing parts and for the industry. It has not been used because it is a computerised machine for which you need the programme and licence from the various manufacturers to programme it for you to produce the part," Junor disclosed.
The attorney said that there are about nine machines on the island and they all have the same capability of producing gun parts.
Alarm bells went off on Tuesday after it was alleged that there had been the discovery of an arms-manufacturing machine in the central parish and that persons were being investigated because of requests for permits to import more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition.
But amid criticism from both Central Manchester Member of Parliament Peter Bunting and Junor, Chief Executive Officer of the FLA Shane Dalling has been adamant that the investigation was triggered because of a number of credible reasons.
He said that it was the owner of the machine who had indicated to the FLA that the machine could, in fact, make gun parts.
Coupled with that fact, the request for 108,000 rounds of ammunition from the parish became a concern for the body especially because they were to be used up within four to six weeks, Dalling explained.
Junor was adamant, however, that his client's participation in an international competition was a justifiable basis for the request for the rounds. He said that his client had been operating a range in Manchester for many years and had established credibility as a gun owner.