The Cellphone That Can Fire Four Rounds

Mumbai airport officials on high alert, after intelligence reports that guns could be smuggled into the country disguised as phones

Mumbai airport officials on high alert, after intelligence reports that guns could be smuggled into the country disguised as phones

It's a cellphone and a gun. And it's got customs officials at Mumbai airport on high alert.

After reports indicated that there was a possibility of phone guns being smuggled into the country, officials have increased rummaging through baggage at the airport and also made it mandatory to pass mobile phones through X-ray machines.

Slick: The .22 calibre mobile phone gun can accommodate four bullets. A .22 round is considered lethal from a 10 feet to 15 feet range. The firing has to be triggered using the keypad

A senior Bureau of Civil Aviation Security official confirmed that they had received a communiquu00e9 about phone guns and that they were on alert.

Two versions

Intelligence reports indicate that a .22 calibre phone gun, capable of firing in rapid succession, could be concealed inside a regular cellphone. The bullets can be triggered-off using a standard keypad.

At first sight these state-of-the-art weapons look like normal mobile phones. But on holding it, the extra weight is noticeable.
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Another version of the phone gun is a device that is shaped like a cellphone (see image alongside).
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A senior customs official informed that phone guns could trigger off four rounds by pressing the keypad.

A .22 round is considered lethal from a 10 feet to 15 feet range. "It could be high risk if a terrorist smuggles these phone guns into a flight," said a senior superintendent of customs.