PESHAWAR, May 7: Production of light weapons in the Dara Adamkhel Frontier Region soared in the wake of a surge in arms smuggling to Afghanistan, arms dealers said here on Friday.

They said that during the days of the Taliban regime, only a small quantity of good quality foreign-made weapons were being transported to Afghanistan. But since the installation of a transitional government in Kabul, arms smuggling had increased manifold, said Khalid Khan, an arms dealer in one of the largest private weapons manufacturing market in Asia.

AK-47s (Kalashnikovs), 30-bore pistols, 12-bore single-barrel guns and 38-bore Makarovs comprised major weapons shipment being illegally transported to Afghanistan via South and North Waziristan tribal agencies, he said.

"We have recently modified the 30-bore Chinese-style pistols making it more popular. The original 30-bore pistol's magazine chamber held only seven bullets, now 14 bullets can be loaded with a repeater fire mode after a little adjustments in its chamber," he maintained.

Another arms dealer said that there were 2,600 shops, which simultaneously manufactured small arms. Many manufacturing units in the Dara Adamkhel had installed arms moulding machines, said Misri Khan. "But we still rely on some pistol parts made in Lahore," he added.

This correspondent saw at least 30 units making barrels of 30-bore pistols while passing through Shaheen Bazaar, a narrow street in Dara's main market. A worker at one of these factories said each small unit's made between 50 and 60 barrels every day.

While a worker at Zafeer Alam arms factory, which makes only AK-47 and 12-bore pump action gun, said that they were making approximately 100 Kalashnikovs and guns in a week time.

Jamshed Khan said that there were more then 15 factories in Dara Adamkhel, which were producing the same type of weapons. According to a report of the Small Arms Survey, an international NGO, Dara Adamkhel arms manufacturers produced 20,000 small arms in 2003.

"The survey report figures appear to be incorrect as there are thousands of factories producing more than a thousand arms in a single day," said Mohammad Amin, an NGO activist.

Mr Amin, who represents Camp, an NGO working against the proliferation of small arms, said that there were seven million registered arms in the country, with 1.9 million in the Frontier province alone, adding that the actual figure was almost its double as people possessed about the same quantity arms without license.

Expressing concern over the increase of small arms production in Dara Adamkhel, he said that it was causing an increase in the crimes rate because of the government's lenient policy regarding banning of light weapons or registering them with the government.

In 2003, 82,236 registered criminal incidents had occurred, about 1,521 more incidents occurring in 2002, he informed. The government chalked out a seven-point plan in 2001 to eradicate the small arms from the society.