The three assailants, who shot dead gangster-turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, used highly sophisticated Zigana pistols which are banned in India, as per a report by IANS. Zigana is a semi-automatic pistol produced by Turkish firearm manufacturing company TISAS. The production of the said pistols started in 2001 and is one of the first pistols in Turkey with an original design.
These are illegal and banned in India. The price of these pistols is around Rs 6 to 7 lakh.
But what is the Zigana pistol? News18 explains:
TISAS Trabzon Arms Industry Corp has been producing the Zigana family of pistols in Turkey since 2001, explains a report by Modern Firearms. These handguns are used in small quantities by numerous Turkish security companies as well as some Turkish military units. Unlike most other Turkish handguns, these appear to be of more or less unique design, rather than a replica of one or more existing European pistols.
The Zigana pistols are locked breech, short recoil-operated weapons with a modified Browning-type locking system in which the barrel is attached to the slide through a single big lug that engages the ejection port, the report says. The trigger is a double-action mechanism with an exposed hammer and a slide-mounted safety. These pistols also have an automatic firing pin block.
The original Zigana M16 pistol had a small underbarrel dustcover on the frame and a 126 mm (5″) barrel. The Zigana T pistol has a heavier and slightly longer slide, an improved frame with a longer dustcover, and a barrel that has been increased to 130 mm.
Finally, the Zigana K pistol is a smaller variant of the Zigana T, with a shortened slide and a 103 mm barrel. All three models use double stack magazines with a capacity of 15 rounds (regular) or 17 rounds (extended). All Zigana pistols have fixed three-dot sights, the report says.
Imported to India through Pakistan?
Reports have said the pistol is illegally imported to India through Pakistan. Local workshops in Pakistan create and sell Zigana models illegally, as per a Turkish defence daily.
The report says that the weapons are made exactly the same as the original, but sold at a much lower price.
Pakistan has a thriving gun market and gun production sites. According to a report by ThePrint Pakistan’s ‘Gun Valley,’ as it has been called, is a small and impoverished town with an estimated population of 80,000 people. It is home to around 2,000 weapon businesses, and the report says there are claims that more than half of the population is occupied in the manufacturing of weapons.
The products in Darra Adam Khel are of the highest quality and are practically impossible to differentiate from the originals. Everything is offered here at below-market costs ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000, including automatics and semiautomatics, 9mm and Beretta, and even anti-aircraft guns, the report says.
As per the report Pakistan exports shotguns and small arms to Austria and Lebanon, and its import bill of weapons is close to $20 million from China, the US and Turkey.
In 2021, Punjab Police had seized 48 foreign-made pistols and arrested an arms smuggler allegedly having links with Pakistan-based terrorist outfits and pro-Khalistani elements based in the US, the UK and Canada, according to an Indian Express report. The arms and ammunition recovered included 19 Turkey-made Zigana 9mm pistols.
Why is Zigana Preferred?
It’s cheap and reliable, as per reports.
A review on the model Zigana PX-9 posted by the Truth About Guns says, “For the price the PX-9 is a very capable defensive firearm and a good, affordable choice in a home defense pistol. It handles quickly, is reliable and features a tritium front sight as well as an accessory rail. In times when good guns are increasingly expensive or can’t be found at any price, the Tisas PX 9 is a very good buy.”
With inputs from IANS
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