CAIRO – Trade in stun guns has risen in Cairo as the lack of security has reached high levels. A flow of China-made stun guns has flowed across the city over the past month, and more sets are expected to be sold as long as police are keeping a low profile and the people feel insecure, a man, who sells these dangers items in Attaba Square, said. "As the security crisis deepens, the demand for stun guns rises, "said the man, who wanted to be identified only as Emad. He said trade in arms has exceeded the food trade thanks to lack of police and the presence of armed street gangs in remote areas of the city. However, it is feared that these dangerous arms would fall into the wrong hands, which would use them to terrorise the people. "At the present situation, I expect a boom in arms sales," he told The Gazette on Friday night. Emad said that the stung guns, an electroshock weapon that stuns people into submission, are a hot item in Cairo's informal arms bazzar. With 50,000 volts, these stun guns are sold freely, for around LE300, he said, adding that some people sell dozens of these weapons from their homes to students and teenagers. Emad said the price of a China-made stun gun varies from LE150 to LE350 depending on its size and voltage power. He said that fears of rising crime due to the lack of security had been sending sales of stun guns and knives sky high, and big demand for them during the past month proved it. The smuggled stun guns are openly sold on the pavements of Attaba. He said that high rates of crime had sent stun gun sales soaring since the beginning of Ramadan. "I have got a lot, a lot of new buyers. Especially young people," Emad said. Adel, 19, came to Emad's street stand to buy the first weapon in his life. He said that feels unsafe in his neighbourhood and decided he needed a means of self-defence. "Two weeks ago, my family members were threatened by someone with a knife," Adel said, adding that he wanted to buy a stun gun to defend himself and family members too. Ahmed Raouf, a potential buyer, said that the stun guns and batons, which the police use to disperse protesters and subdue outlaws, are becoming a popular accessory among the youth in Cairo. Stun guns, which are secretly smuggled from China into Egypt, come in various sizes and shapes and are sold in some Cairo streets to the young people. They use these devices, which discharge up to one thousand volts of electricity, against their attackers. Last week, an unidentified young man used a stun gun against a male political activist and a young movie star on a famous Giza street. The men, believed to be a member of a gang, used his stun baton to terrorise and attack Amr Hamzawi and Basma before robbing them. Neither the young man was arrested, nor his lethal weapon was confiscated by the police. So far, the police have not taken any action to crackdown on vendors, who sell such items on el-Gomhuria and Sherif Pasha Streets. Right before iftar, it has become common to a number of youngsters showing off their guns on el-Gomhuria Street, off Attaba Square. A Cairo-based lawyer has raised concerns about the widespread use of these guns. Lawyer Akram Baioumi said that stun guns – an effective police tool – could be 'lethal if they fell in the wrong hands. These guns are used by members of the anti-riot police troops, Akram told the paper, adding that the use of these devices by law enforcement personnel is legitimate. "But any unauthorised persons found or arrested for using, possessing, or selling them would be subject to legal punishment according to the provisions of the Second Clause of Article No. 375 of the Egyptian Penal Code," Akram said. He said that there was an increase in the rate of buying and using of the stun guns among Egypt's youth. Like fire arms, these dangerous electronic weapons could cause sudden death and should be banned all together, Akram said.
