He said the police had detained nine suspects linked to firearm smuggling and seized eight firearms between January and early this month.

“Seven of the suspects were found to be citizens of a neighbouring country while the rest were locals,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Hasanuddin said the modus operandi of the nine suspects was to smuggle firearm components separately and later have them re-assembled in the state.

“They are likely to have brought in the firearms due to high demand to commit various crimes in the state, be they drug-related or robbery, among others,” he said, adding that the smuggling activities had been fuelled by the illegal jetties along Sungai Golok.

According to him, the police thwarted several firearm smuggling attempts last year and seized seven firearms.