Israeli firearms trafficking case to be heard in Oct
KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court has fixed nine days for the trial of Israeli Avitan Shalom, who is accused of trafficking six firearms and possessing 200 bullets.

Sessions Court judge Norina Zainol Abidin fixed Sept 30, Oct 1–3, and Oct 7–11 for the hearing when the case came up for mention yesterday. The case was fixed for further mention again on June 28.

DPP Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam informed the court that the prosecution planned to call 20 witnesses and prepare witness statements.

The prosecution also amended several details on the two charge sheets – from 158 bullets to 200 – and the serial numbers of the firearms involving Glock and Stoeger Cougar.

The amended charge sheets were then read out to Avitan, who pleaded not guilty.

Earlier, Avitan’s lawyer Navinjit Singh told the judge that his client’s name was wrongly recorded on the charge sheet as “Avitan Shalom”.

“When the accused entered this country, he used a French passport. The name that appears on the passport is ‘Shalom Avitan’ and not ‘Avitan Shalom’. ‘Avitan Shalom’ could be someone else,” Navinjit said.

DPP Mohamad Mustaffa said the prosecution had referred to the French passport and had no intention of amending the name on the charge sheet at this point.

“It is clearly stated in the passport that the surname is Avitan and the given name is Shalom.

“In some jurisdictions, they may refer to the surname as the first name and the given name as the second name. It is just a matter of style, but we are referring to the same document,” he said.

Navinjit said the defence stood by its contention about the naming convention.

“We are afraid this small mistake might influence the court,” he said.

Norina said the court took note of the objection and asked parties to make submissions on the issue during the trial.

On April 12, the 38-year-old Israeli claimed trial for two firearms-related charges.

For the first charge, he was accused of having ammunition in his possession without a permit, comprising a Shell Shock NAS3 box containing eight bullets, three Bullet Master Co Ltd boxes containing 50 bullets each and 42 bullets in three different firearms.

For the second charge, Avitan allegedly trafficked six firearms: the Glock 19 USA 9x19, the Sig Sauer P3205P, the Cougar 8000FT, the Glock 17 Gen4 Austria 9x19, the M&P 9C Smith & Wesson Springfield MA USA and the Stoeger Cougar 8000F.

Avitan allegedly committed the offence in a hotel room along Jalan Ampang between 6.46pm on March 26 and 6pm on March 28.
Avitan Shalom,Sessions Court,Israeli,trafficking,firearms
KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court has fixed nine days for the trial of Israeli Avitan Shalom, who is accused of trafficking six firearms and possessing 200 bullets.