A Malaysian shipment of 2,800 second-hand sub-machineguns seized in Hong Kong was legally transported and was meant to be sold as antique collectors' items in the United States, a police spokesman said today.

Federal criminal investigations department chief Musa Hassan told reporters that the shipment was legal, but the shipping company failed to obtain a permit for transit through Hong Kong.

"The transaction was carried out with proper export and import permits between Malaysia and the US after obtaining the necessary licensing and permission from the home ministry," Musa said.

"The weapons are also not high-calibre firearms but light arms, like 9mm pistols and ammunition and magazines which are obsolete."

"These weapons, which were disposed of by the police force in 2002, were obtained by a local company which then sold them to two firms in the US as collectors' items and antique arms as they were over 24 years old," he said.

Che Halim Che Husin, managing director of the local company Global Forecast which bought the arms from the home ministry, was quoted by the Star as saying that their agents in Hong Kong were now in the midst of securing a permit from the Hong Kong authorities.

The weapons were sold to the SARCO Inc in New Jersey and the Pacific Armament Corp. in California, he added.

The clarification came a day after Malaysia's armed forces chief said the guns, discovered along with 25,000 unloaded magazines in Hong Kong on Monday, were not from the military's stockpile. - AFP