This is disturbing news if confirmed. People Airsoft reports that 110,000 airsoft guns about to be exported were seized and three people were arrested in Guangdong, China, specifically in the City of Shantou, also known as Swatow. We have been trying to verify reports if this is true, but so far our search results at Chinese-English Language dailies have come up empty. So time for some legwork with our friends in that province to get us more information.

With ACM guns just starting to come back to normal supplies after the crackdown last year, here's another crackdown under the "Firearms Control Act". 110,000 airsoft guns is such a massive loss to airsoft manufacturers, or those companies that outsource or rebrand airsoft guns made in China. Our guesstimate will be around US$11 million worth of items seized or even more.

This means that those who are expecting ACM airsoft guns, may just have to start snapping up existing stocks of retailers before the spigot gets turned off again.

Read the news report at the People Airsoft site.

Photo source: Sina.com (File photo, not photo of the Shantou seizures)

UPDATE (23 October 2010 1200H GMT): Our sources in Shantou are confirming that two containers have been seized by Customs. They still don't have an estimate on the costs of the items seized. They are not sure if the seized containers' items will be subject to destruction after some investigation, or a bureaucratic snafu, since these items are for export rather than for local consumption which will be against local laws.