Below are pictures of a homemade submachine gun seized last month by the Municipal Civil Guard of Limeira in Sao Paulo along with cocaine base paste and marijuana. This illicit craft produced SMG model has been seized as far back as at least 2014 and has appeared more regularly in recent months. These weapons are certainly the product of a large criminal distribution network being supplied by an efficiently run and well equipped illicit workshop.

The gun is a typical straight blowback operation submachine gun, firing from the open bolt position and unusually chambered in .40 S&W. It has an upper receiver made from round steel tubing and a sheet metal rectangular steel lower section. It usually features a sturdy folding stock which resembles the skeleton folder of the Galil and appears to be well made and thought out. The weapons are usually marked ‘SPECTRA – Italy Cal .40’ along with a stamped Cobray style snake logo and a serial number usually starting with the year following in most cases ‘001’. Other examples seized appear to have either a certainly artificially high or nonsensical six digit serial number.

Example seized in 2017:

Example seized in 2015 fitted with a silencer/sound suppressor:

Just like illegal narcotics, the emergence of high quality, almost serial line produced automatic weapons across the world shows that criminal groups are fully capable of attaining a degree of self-reliance in this area should other sources ever be successfully closed off to them.