Over 9,000 Suspected Fake Arms License Found in Audit

A government audit has uncovered major irregularities in the computerization of arms licenses, revealing thousands of suspected excess licenses that do not match official records maintained by the Ministry of Interior.

According to the audit report, 9,291 additional suspected arms licenses were identified during the review of the computerization process.

The report states that NADRA computerized more prohibited-bore arms licenses than were officially issued by the Ministry of Interior. While the ministry’s records show that 36,497 prohibited-bore licenses were issued, a total of 44,250 were computerized, leaving a discrepancy of 7,753 licenses.

The audit also found that more than 186,000 arms licenses were computerized overall, of which 10,464 were later declared fake.

The findings point to serious irregularities in the management and verification of arms license records during the computerization process.

According to the report, the relevant authorities have accepted the audit observations and called for a formal investigation into the irregularities to determine how the discrepancies occurred and identify those responsible.

The audit recommends fixing accountability for the suspected irregularities and strengthening oversight of the arms license computerization system to prevent similar issues in the future.