JOHOR BAHARU, Aug 30 – Police arrested a 50-year-old army retiree for illegal possession of firearms after discovering two hand-made air rifles in his house during a raid last Friday.

Acting on a public tip-off, a team of policemen from Ledang police headquarters raided the man’s house at Jalan Gunung Ledang, Kampung Relau in Tangkak at 11.30pm and found the rifles hidden under his kitchen cabinet.

“The man has been remanded until September 2 to facilitate investigation under Section 8(a) of the Firearms Act 1960 which carries a jail term not exceeding seven years or fine of RM10,000, or both, if convicted,” Johor police chief DCP Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff told reporters here today.

He said the man, however, did not have any previous criminal record and was believed to have kept the rifles as an ornamental item.

Meanwhile, Mohd Mokhtar said police also found a Colt Super Automatic .22 pistol at an oil palm plantation in Jalan Panchor, Bukit Pasir, Muar last Saturday.

Investigations were being carried out to identify the owner of the pistol and whether it had been used in criminal activities, he said.

In another development, Batu Pahat police headquarters arrested three men, aged between 20 and 38, believed to be involved in robbing a 24-hour convenience store on Saturday.

In the 12.15am incident, the trio, fully masked and armed with machetes, escaped with RM179 cash and a Toyota Unser car.

However, they were arrested 45 minutes later by a police team on patrol.

Initial investigation found that two of the suspects had six previous criminal records for burglary and snatch theft.

They have been remanded until September 3 and the case was being investigated under Section 395/397 of the Penal Code. – Bernama