Cracking the whip on errant Bollywood dummy guns and ammunition suppliers, Mumbai Customs Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (SIIB) officials arrested Movie Action Dummy Effects Association (MADEA) General Secretary Nadeem Khan for flouting special arms license for theatrical, film or television production under the amended Arms Rule 2016.
The Free Press Journal has extensively reported (edition date 26 May and 30 May 2022) on the smuggling of imported dummy guns and blank cartridges used in Bollywood action films without valid licenses.
Customs officials raided the offices and godowns of leading dummy weapons and ammunition supplier Nadeem Khan at Motilal Nagar, Goregaon and seized a huge cache of restricted imported dummy weapons and blanks. He had provided imported dummy guns and explosives to Balaji Films, Yashraj Films and Salman Khan Films for action scenes.
The arrest of Bollywood stunt woman Firoza Khatun for importing consignments of 78,000 blank cartridges during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown without a valid arms license had opened a pandora's box of rampant irregularities in action films for using restricted dummy guns and explosives. Investigation into the irregularities of restricted importing of blank cartridges led to dummy gun suppliers to top Bollywood films. “Film production house is guilty and negligent using restricted dummy weapons without a valid license. Arms Rule 2016 clearly stipulates license for theatrical, film or television production to use imported blanks, weapons and explosives” explained a senior customs official supervising the investigation.
Nadeem Khan had allegedly used 4000 blank cartridges imported by Firoza Khatun who had misdeclared the restricted consignment as dummy air pellets to subvert the Arms Rule. The blanks were used in some of the action films released on OTT platforms this year.
Customs officials handed Nadeem Khan to Goregaon Police for further investigation on the huge stockpile of imported weapons stored in the godowns of Wave Special Effects and Fireworks.
The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad had given a damning report of the imported consignment “dummy air pellets” representative samples that were sent for testing by the customs.
“when a blank cartridge is fired, high-pressure gas is discharged from the case and progresses down the barrel. The effect of the super-heated high-pressure gas, as well as unburnt particles of propellant can cause fatal injuries and can be dangerous to human life. Thus, the goods are dangerous in nature and can cause fatal injuries to human life.” the CFSL report opined.
Movie Action Dummy Effects Association (MADEA) with over 650 members supplying police certified prop guns for Film and TV shoots in India insists that “only use dummy guns that have police certificates. Bullets do not contain lead and only make a loud sound and flash on pulling the trigger.”
