Malaysia sentences foreign man to 7 years’ jail for possessing 6 guns, ammunition

PETALING JAYA: A foreign national was sentenced to seven years’ jail on Wednesday (Feb 26) after he pleaded guilty to possessing 200 rounds of ammunition and six guns in Malaysia last year.

Kuala Lumpur Session Court Judge Zaki Salleh handed down the sentence after accepting 39-year-old Shalom Avitan’s guilty plea for both a primary and an alternative charge under Section 8(a) of the Arms Act 1960, local news outlet Berita Harian reported. 

An alternative charge refers to an additional charge framed against an accused person in case the primary charge is not proven. 

Zaki said the court was satisfied with the Israeli national’s guilty plea.

“Mr Avitan, the sentence for each charge is seven years imprisonment, starting from your arrest on Mar 28 last year,” Zaki was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

“The imprisonment will run concurrently.”

For the primary charge, Avitan was found in possession of a box of Shell Shock NAS3 9mm ammunition containing eight bullets, three boxes of Bullet Master Co Ltd ammunition containing 150 rounds, and 42 bullets in three different firearms – all without a licence or permit.

Under the alternative charge, he was found in possession of six unlicensed guns – a Glock 19 USA 9×19, Sig Sauer P3205P, Cougar 8000FT, Glock 17 Gen4 Austria 9×19, M&P 9C Smith & Wesson Springfield MA USA, and Stoeger Cougar 8000F. 

The unlicensed weapons and ammunition were discovered in a hotel room on Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur between 6.46pm on Mar 26 and 6pm on Mar 28.

Avitan was then detained on Mar 28 and told Malaysian police that he was in the country to hunt down a fellow Israeli. Media outlets in Israel had reported that he was an associate of a syndicate and wanted to kill the head of a rival criminal family. 

Avitan had previously pleaded not guilty on Apr 12 last year to the charges and claimed trial at the same Sessions Court.