The police today said a number of the weapons seized from a house in Kuala Lumpur and car in Penang owned by the two alleged gunrunners killed in a shootout yesterday could be replicas.

Asked how many of the 70 weapons confiscated were real, Bukit Aman federal police headquarters spokesperson Shamsuddin Ali said that he was not certain.

"I was not present during the press conference [which was called by the criminal investigation department yesterday]," he told malaysiakini .

Malay Mail today reported that one of the men shot dead, Chai Kok Teong (left) , was known to his neighbours as a toy gun trader.

CID director Salleh Mat Som, in an exclusive interview with the newspaper, conceded that apart from the M-16's "which are real, I can safely say that the other weapons are 90 percent originals. They can kill.

"But we have to be certain, and that is why we have sent them for ballistics check," he added.

The report also said that the police did not rule out that the weapons found in Chai's house could be replicas.

The gunrunners, Chai from Kuala Lumpur and Yong Kah Sing from Johor Bahru, were gunned down by police personnel in Nibong Tebal following a car chase.

A number of readers informed malaysiakini today that the photos of the weapons exhibited in the press conference, which appeared in all the newspapers, contained 'Hop Up' labels.

Hop Up, a trademark of Japanese toy gun maker Tokyo Marui, is a mechanism which allows replica guns to fire a pellet with increased accuracy compared to other imitation guns.

However, Shamsuddin said that guns with the 'Hop Up' label did not mean they were harmless.

"An air rifle can still be used to kill and what CID director Salleh Mat Som was holding [at the press conference] was a real weapon, and they are considered as such," he added.

Shamsuddin said that even if the weapons were replicas, they still need a permit to be imported and the use of such toy guns must be accompanied by a licence.

Replica guns look almost exactly like real guns but they do not discharge deadly ammunition. They are made mostly of plastics, instead of metal, and therefore are lighter than real guns.

Gun enthusiasts, which use the these guns for war games, can buy them from the Internet.

Toy gun trader

Police said the two gunrunners were the suspected suppliers for the notorious M-16 gang, which is responsible for a spate of robberies conducted with military-like precision.

The gang's latest hit was the RM1 million heist on three goldsmiths shops, which were robbed simultaneously, in Kuala Lumpur

According to the News Straits Times today, among the weapons confiscated included three M-16s, 107 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition for rifles, two semi-automatic pistols with 10 rounds of ammunition, two hand grenades and 67 other pistols and rifles.

"The other weapons include a MP5-A3, five MP5-A4, a Styer sub-machinegun, a Digicon Magnum, 25 SX Wesson pistol and two Walther PPK pistols," Salleh was quoted as saying.

Not real picture

A former military officer told malaysiakini that news on the arms haul were "examples of bad reporting".

Retired army lieutenant-colonel Yusuff Ahmad said the newspapers failed to provide the real nature of the arms cache.

"If it [the gun] is a replica, it should not be display [by the police]," he added.

He also questioned how the robbers could have obtained the Steyr rifle one of the weapons seized by the police.

Yusuff said Steyr sub-machine guns are only used by the Malaysian Army and could not be found in neighbouring countries.

"The only other countries in the region that use it are Oman and Australia," he said.