• Recovered Uzi-like weapon sparks debate

An Uzi-style 9 mm machine pistol, along with other firearms from a buried arms cache near a cemetery in Colombo, recovered by Police sleuths early this month, has stimulated discussion amongst law enforcement and security circles on whether 3D printing has entered the organised crime landscape of Sri Lanka.

The weapon was found with a sling attached, so that it can be carried concealed under a jacket and fired single-handedly, and with a high-capacity magazine which would have held dozens of bullets. It is suspected that the weapon has a high rate of fire. 

3D-printed weapons are increasingly being used by criminal elements worldwide and are highly sought after due to their being untraceable (no serial numbers or registration marks/factory markings), ease of concealability, and availability. This has earned them the nickname ‘ghost guns’. They are often used as ‘drop guns,’ used for only one crime and then disposed of, and as such make it harder for law enforcement agencies to connect to criminal networks and successfully prosecute.

A senior official in the security establishment told The Sunday Morning on condition of anonymity that they were trying to ascertain whether the recovered weapon had indeed been 3D printed. “If confirmed, we need to work under the assumption that 3D-printed weapons are now available in Sri Lanka. Of course, this is the first instance of such a concern being reported; we are looking into it,” the official said. 

However, when contacted, the Police Department was not able to comment on the matter.

The gun

The Uzi-type weapon, deadly at close quarters due to its high rate of fire in a compact package, and concealable due to its small size, has been widely adopted by organised crime elements globally. First designed for Israeli paratroopers and special operational forces, the Uzi quickly gained global recognition and use due to its features. 

Sri Lanka is no stranger to the Uzi, which has seen service with local law enforcement, paramilitaries, and armed forces since the 1980s. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other terrorist groups also used Uzis sourced from multiple sources or captured from State forces. The weapon is still in use with many agencies and the armed forces.

What is new is that such firearms and their ownership, tightly controlled in many nations, are now being 3D printed by crime groups and guerrilla groups around the world. They keep popping up in law enforcement searches and are now actively used in crime activities, especially in narcotics-related crime. 

The firearm, which was recovered on 2 June, was described by the Police and reported on broadcast media as a mini Uzi-type firearm. However, closer scrutiny of the firearm from images available in the public domain points to it being a similar but of a different design – the US-made Military Armament Corporation Model 11 (MAC-11). 

The MAC-11 is no longer in production, but the design has been reproduced by many companies since the 1970s. The crude construction of the recovered firearm and its internal mechanism suggests that some components were manufactured locally in a metal workshop. 

It is learnt that the firearm has been submitted for evaluation to the Government Analyst’s Department, which is struggling with a backlog of forensic work.

Former Senior Assistant Government Analyst P.G. Madawala told The Sunday Morning that while 3D-printed firearms were a new concern, craft production of firearms and the modification of ‘starter pistols’ (used to kick off sporting events) and even some toy pistols to use live ammunition had been documented in Sri Lanka before. 

Sri Lanka has a long history of craft-produced guns, with a raid by the Police recently netting nearly a dozen fresh ‘T-katas’ (a crude breechloading handgun, manufactured by local blacksmiths and machinists) chambered for the widely available Type-56 assault rifle bullet in 7.62 mm calibre. While such weapons are crude, they are often used for intimidation or shootings due to their availability and difficulty to trace to an owner.

3D-printed death

3D-printed firearms originated in the early 2010s with the boom of commercially available 3D-printing machines. They came into notoriety in 2013, when a US-based open-source organisation, Defense Distributed, published the digital blueprints for a 3D-printed firearm, the Liberator, which could be downloaded and printed by anyone with access to a 3D printer. 

This single-shot plastic handgun was the first widely acknowledged, fully functional, printable firearm, and its release sparked a global debate on firearms regulation. Ever since then, the world has been trying to catch up with the rapid pace of growth in the 3D-printed armament industry. Guns like the Liberator, a single-shot weapon, can be designed to be concealed as different objects and may easily pass through security systems like metal detectors due to their reduced metallic signature. 

3D printers are rapidly proliferating and have no regulatory controls in many countries, including Sri Lanka. They are often used by new start-up enterprises and manufacturers to bring in ease of manufacturing, and with easily obtainable raw materials such as plastic. 3D printers do not use ink; instead, they build physical objects by melting and fusing materials like thermoplastics, photopolymer resins, metals, and even ceramics. 

The exact material and form (spool, powder, or liquid) depend entirely on the type of 3D printer being used. As such, the manufacturing equipment for the 3D-printed firearms can be obtained by anyone, and once the software is set up, the blueprints for the type of firearm you want can be found on the internet or designed by oneself. Thereafter it is only a matter of printing out the parts and assembling them. Some 3D-printed firearms require some prefabricated or commercially sourced metal components.

In America, the reported birthplace of printed firearms, the Federal Government regulator defines them under Privately Made Firearms (PMFs): firearms (including a frame or receiver) that have been completed, assembled, or otherwise produced by a person other than a licensed manufacturer (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives [ATF], 2025).

In Australia, 3D-printed firearms are illegal and becoming a serious problem, with the Australian Attorney-General’s Department stating: “...our understanding of this area of 3D printing or creating of firearms is that it would be treated no differently to traditionally manufactured firearms, and that importation, manufacture, or possession of a 3D-printed firearm, without a licence, would be illegal in Australia”. 

In June, Australian Police authorities intercepted suspects carrying illegal 3D-printed guns and arrested suspects who were found to be manufacturing them in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and South Australia.

In Singapore, last month, authorities gave a woman who illegally possessed a bullet used in machine guns and attempted to build a 3D-printed firearm four months’ jail and a fine.

Closer to home, in Myanmar, following the 2021 military coup, anti-junta rebel forces – collectively known as the People’s Defence Force (PDF) and allied ethnic armed organisations – turned to 3D printing to circumvent strict weapons blockades and jumpstart an asymmetric guerrilla campaign. It is the first known case where 3D-printed firearms have been deployed in an active, large-scale military conflict.

Legislative and awareness gaps

Sri Lanka’s outdated firearms regulatory legislation and awareness about such trends in firearms technology amongst law enforcement, security agencies, and officers in the justice system create gaps which organised criminal elements may exploit by using such 3D-printed weapons.

With no serial numbers and with designs that incorporate little if any ballistic evidence, proving a weapon is a match to a crime scene may become more difficult with the use of such weapons. Further, with no identifiable markings, the weapon’s ownership would likely be easily disputed. Moreover, since most of the components are made from plastic, such weapons become easy to dispose of, leaving little usable evidence of a firearm which may hold up scrutiny in the court system. 

Globally, 3D-printed firearms are increasingly becoming more and more sophisticated, and trafficking networks are creating new challenges for governments worldwide. 

The matter was discussed at the level of the United Nations (UN), where delegates gathered at the UN Headquarters to tackle the global spread of illicit firearms – weapons that continue to fuel violence in communities long after wars end. At the centre of discussions were emerging technologies that experts warned could make these illegal weapons easier to manufacture and harder to trace. 

Following the gathering, a report on the discussion said: “One of the fastest-growing concerns involves so-called ghost guns – firearms assembled from parts or kits and lacking serial numbers – that are near impossible for authorities to trace. Advances in 3D-printing technology have created additional challenges by allowing components – and in some cases entire and fully operational firearms – to be produced outside traditional manufacturing and regulatory systems. The increasing availability and affordability of such technology has heightened concerns among governments that illicit firearms could become easier to make and harder to regulate.”