Tengrinews.kz - A resident of Kostanay has turned in a 1941-model submachine gun to local police, citing Alau.
According to the outlet, the Kostanay region, along with the rest of the country, has launched a campaign to collect unregistered firearms and ammunition from the public.
"One of the first weapons handed over to the Kostanay police department was a PPSh – a Shpagin submachine gun known from films about the Great Patriotic War. It was decommissioned by the mid-1960s," the article states.
Police said the gun was brought in by a woman who previously lived in Arkalyk. According to her, the weapon was found by her husband in a barn and kept in the family until his death.
On the first day of the campaign alone, five firearms were handed over to police in Kostanay. Three of them were smoothbore guns, two were rifled, including the PPSh and a commercial hunting rifle.
Photo: alau.kz / Kostanay Regional Police Department
The outlet noted that similar buyback programs have been conducted in Kazakhstan for several years. This year, police said, the government has allocated more funds for the initiative than in previous years.
Earlier in February, an Aktau resident and amateur paleontologist, Vladimir Yartsev, discovered a military flask from the Red Army era in Mangystau.