Firearm products being manufactured at the illegal workshops in HCM City and Đồng Nai. — Photo from Hà Tĩnh Police

HÀ TĨNH — Police in the central province of Hà Tĩnh have dismantled two large-scale illegal weapons manufacturing facilities operating in the two southern cities – HCM City and Đồng Nai – as part of an expanded investigation into a firearms production and trafficking network.

The provincial police department told the media that officers had deployed 60 personnel in three task forces to simultaneously raid the two workshops in coordination with authorities in HCM City and Đồng Nai.

The facilities operated covertly under the guise of civilian mechanical workshops. The premises displayed no signs or advertisements but were equipped with modern CNC (computer numerical control) milling and turning machines and extensive surveillance camera systems designed to evade detection, according to investigators.

During the raids, police seized 178 finished PCP air rifle bodies, 113 ammunition magazines, 300 aluminium alloy blanks, hundreds of firearm assembly components, four CNC milling machines, one CNC lathe, two desktop computers, and several other evidence.

Authorities also summoned several individuals for questioning, including Vũ Mạnh Quyết, born in 1987, who allegedly owned a mechanical workshop in Đồng Nai, and Nguyễn Công Quý, born in 1994, from the central province of Lâm Đồng Province.

Initial findings indicate that the suspects rented industrial premises and invested in advanced machining equipment to manufacture components used in PCP air rifles before supplying them to distributors in Việt Nam and overseas.

Detained suspects along with the illegally made firearms. — Photo from Hà Tĩnh Police

Quyết allegedly began establishing the production operation in 2023, installing CNC machinery to manufacture gun parts and components. The products were then sold to domestic and foreign buyers through thousands of orders over several years.

Authorities described the operation as highly organised and self-contained, serving as a significant source of firearm components for multiple buyers.

Police also identified Trần Hữu Tráng, born in 1997, from Đồng Nai, as the individual responsible for designing and producing several PCP rifle body models known as C1, C2 and C3.

Expanded weapons probe leads to closure of two clandestine firearms workshops in Đồng Nai and HCM City. — Photo from Hà Tĩnh police

Investigators said the products designed and manufactured by Tráng were supplied to Nguyễn Đức Hiệp, born in 1990, whom authorities previously identified as the leader of a larger network in the northern border province of Lào Cai Province.

The latest arrests stem from an ongoing investigation launched after Hà Tĩnh police dismantled a separate illegal military weapons manufacturing, storage and trading ring in mid-April. Authorities subsequently filed charges against nine suspects in that case.

The investigation is continuing. — VNS