Speaking of AK47s, the Chinese communists tried
to smuggle in 2,000 fully automatic AK47s into the
US in 1996 to be sold to drug lords and street gangs
in Oakland, California.
(BTW, the day after recent very violent riots in
Oakland, the city council layed off 80 policemen
and now if you want to report a crime you had
best go down to the precinct because the police
will only respond to 'violence in progress' calls.
Which reminds me of the citizen who called police
and said he has holding a burglar caught red handed
at gun point, please come pick hi up, when told by
the police dispatcher that it would be about thirty
minutes the citizen said; "never mind, I'll just shoot
him" and hung up. The police arrived minutes later
and finding the culprit unshot, said; "I thought you
said you were going to shoot him?" and the guy
said; "and I thought you said it would take thirty
minutes to get here.")
A 30-count indictment stemmed from a sting
operation mounted by undercover U.S. Treasury
and U.S. Customs Service agents, who posed as
organized-crime arms dealers.
That haul remains the largest seizure of smuggled
automatic weapons in U.S. history.
The agents paid $700,000 for 2,000 fully automatic
AK-47s that were shipped into Oakland, Calif., aboard
a Chinese-owned vessel from China in March 1996.
The shipment, which had an approximate street
value of more than $4 million, also included about
4,000 AK-47 drum magazines capable of holding
up to 40 rounds each.
Ma is one of five Chinese nationals indicted in the
case who are fugitives. Two other Chinese nationals
who were charged, a former Poly Technologies export
manager and a former export official of another state-
run munitions firm, NORINCO, have been convicted in
China, said Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for ICE in
Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Poly Technologies was started by the Chinese military
as an arms trading corporation. When the government
ordered the military to divest itself of numerous
businesses, Poly Technologies in 1999 was placed
under the central government.
Here is a tidbit for you Bush haters:
Dateline Apr. 27, 2005;
The U.S. Army has approved the purchase of more
than $29 million worth of weapons for the new Iraqi
army from a Chinese state-owned company that's
under indictment in California in connection with the
smuggling of 2,000 AK-47 automatic rifles into the
United States in 1996.
The Beijing-based firm is to deliver 2,369 light and
heavy machine guns, 14,653 AK-47 rifles and 72
million rounds of ammunition worth $29.3 million by
Saturday, according to a Pentagon statement.
Poly Technologies won the competitively bid $29.3
million contract in February from The International
Trading Establishment, a Jordan-based consortium.
The U.S. Army selected the consortium to supply
Iraq's fledgling security forces with as much as
$174.4 million worth of radios, night-vision
equipment, weapons and ammunition.
The consortium comprises coalition partners of
corporations from the Czech Republic, Spain and
Jordan.
Dynasty Holding of Atlanta, the name under which
Poly Technologies did business in the United States,
was charged in the smuggling case, along with 14
co-defendants, including Bao Ping "Robert" Ma, a
former Chinese army general who was the firm's
U.S. representative, according to the May 1996
federal grand jury indictment.
Question: WTF?
From the Chinese Army manuel on the proper
use of the AK47: