Memorandum from Mark Thomas
SECTION 1
On The 24th of May I Found a Company Offering,
Displaying and Demonstrating Electro Shock Weapons at IFSEC, the
UK Police and Security Fair.
(1) On the 24th of May I attended IFSEC
at the Birmingham NEC. Stall number 21193 in the exhibition programme
is listed as being hired by Zhejiang Kangle Group Co Ltd. The
stall was staffed by Mr Sam Shar (later he gave his name to be
Jingua Xia) working for Echo Industrial Co. Ltd from Wenzhou,
China.
(2) On the display shelf at the back of
the stall were three electro-shock items on public display. See
below fig. 1- the stun weapons are the 2 black boxes and black
torch like object standing upright on the shelf behind Mr Shar/Xia.
[not printed]
(3) Mr Shar also displayed a stun gun display
chart on the wall of his stall during the first two days of the
fair. The display chart was entitled "Stun gun" and
featured over photos and details of over 24 different types of
stun weapon. See below fig. 4. [not printed]
(4) Mr Shar also had a pile of booklets
for visitors to take on the front desk of his stall, which also
displayed electro shock torture equipment. See fig. 5. [not printed]
(5) On the 24th Mr Shar offered to show
me the stun weapons and discharged them in the fair. Electro shock
weapons make a distinct and loud noise. Anyone walking past would
easily have seen the blue electrical flashes. See fig. 6. [not
printed]
(6) Mr Shar then gave details of the battery
requirements of the weapons and told me that the cost of two stun
guns was $6.50 if I was ordering a quantity of 10,000. He also
said a 5% discount might be available. The manufacture time was
about a month for 10,000. We also discussed that it would take
about a month to ship from China to Europe.
(7) Mr Shar also indicated that he had no
problem with the Chinese authorities and paperwork or export licences
as "we" had described them previously as "torches"
and therefore did not need to get any form of arms export licence.
(8) On reporting this to the fair organisers
CMP Information Ltd I asked to speak to the duty customs officer.
They replied that the nearest customs official was at Birmingham
airport. The onsite private security did respond rapidly once
I had informed them that electro shock was being discharged in
the fair.
(9) Mr Shar/Xia was arrested and held by
police. According to the police press office he pleaded guilty
at Solihull magistrate court to the "the sale of prohibited
weapons". He is to be sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on
the 22nd of June.
SECTION 2
(1) Though it is ironic that illegal equipment
should be on display throughout the fair when so many police officers
were attending it (indeed the Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan
Police, Tarique Ghaffur, was presenting a seminar there) what
is of concern is that the QSC's last report specifically identifies
trade fairs and restricted weapons as an area of concern.
(2) Electro shock has been in effect banned
by UK government since 1997, ten years on the enforcement of this
law should be reasonably effective in cases of such obvious breaches.
(3) The fact that there was no duty customs
officer present could be a factor in this scenario. If a duty
customs officer had been present could Mr Shar/Xia's stun weapons
have been detected earlier, rather than on the final day of the
fair and only after being tipped off? Why was there no duty customs
officer present at the fair?
(4) What practicable measures did CMP the
fair organisers take to ensure companies knew of UK laws? Were
the foreign companies attending the fair given the correct information
in appropriate languages? Were the penalties for breaking the
law spelt out clearly to those attending? Given an obvious breach
of the law occurred what measures are the fair organisers taking
to ensure this does not happen in the future?
(5) What work did Customs do prior to the
fair to work with the organisers and exhibitors to ensure compliance
with the law?
June 2007
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