Swiss police have intercepted a cache of arms that include guns
disguised as mobile phones. The phones don't actually work but contain
barrels for four .22 bullets and a winding mechanism made to look like
an aerial.
By cranking the aerial, four high-tension springs are pulled back
into the base of the phone and then each one can be released separately
by pressing buttons five through eight. The spring then strikes the
base of the bullet, held in the top half of the phone, and fires it out
the top of the phone.
The guns are thought to be built in
the Balkans where there is a market for such things and gangsters have
been importing them into the West. According to the Daily Mail,
these mobile phone guns have become so popular in Germany that one
nightclub owner has insisted guests leave mobiles at the door. They're
hard to distinguish apparently, apart from the fact that they're much
heavier.
It doesn't seem to have occurred to them to simply ask people to
call someone on their phone or to look for four holes in the top, but
there you go.
The gun, unsurprisingly, is only good for close range firing but is
lethal, said police. Not that disguised guns are anything new and not
that we'll ever be faced with one, but there's a little seed of
paranoia for you.
Wonder how long it'll be until there's a kids version. We were just
bemoaning the disappearance of spud guns last night - maybe this will
be the modern version. ®