Of Turkish, German, British make: The guns linked to Atiq Ahmed’s killing, his son’s encounter

On April 15, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead while being taken for a medical checkup in police custody. The killers used Zigana guns, made in Turkey and costing approximately Rs 6 lakh in India’s underground arms market.

(Left to Right) A model of the Zigana pistol (Zigana T); Walther P88; a photo of the British Bull Dog revolver used to kill US President James A Garfield. (TISAS website, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons)

By: Explained Desk

5 min readNew DelhiApr 18, 2023 07:51 AM IST First published on: Apr 18, 2023 at 07:51 AM IST

Gangster-turned politician Atiq Ahmed was murdered along with his brother Ashraf in police custody on Saturday (April 15) night. The duo, implicated in the Raju Pal and Umesh Pal murders as well as over a hundred other criminal cases, were being interviewed by the media while being taken for a medical checkup when they were shot multiple times by three armed assailants.

The killers reportedly used sophisticated Zigana pistols to carry out the deed. These guns are said to cost around Rs 6 lakh in India’s underground arms market and are banned in the country.

Previously, on Thursday (April 13), Atiq Ahmed’s son, Asad, and close aide, Ghulam, were killed by the UP Police in an encounter near Jhansi. According to ANI, two guns – a British Bull Dog revolver and a Walther P88 – were recovered from the deceased duo.

Zigana

Zigana is a semi-automatic pistol produced by Turkish firearm manufacturing company TİSAŞ (Trabzon Silah Sanayi AŞ). It was first produced in 2001.

Zigana pistols have a locked-slide short recoil operating mechanism with a modified Browning-type locking system. In addition, these pistols also have an automatic firing pin block. These features make the Zigana an extremely reliable and easy-to-use weapon, making it a gun of choice not only for gangsters across Asia, but also police forces and the military such as in Malaysia, Turkey and the Philippines. The pistol has also seen limited use by the US Coast Guard.

In Pakistan, Ziganas are produced en masse at illegal workshops, finding their way to civilians and terrorists alike. While the origin of the Zigana pistols used for Atiq Ahmed’s killing is still unclear, some media reports suggest that they were sourced from Pakistan.

There are multiple variants of the pistol, with differences in weight, size, barrel length and magazine capacity. Again, it is unclear which variant was used for Atiq’s shooting.

Walther P88

Walther P88 is a German-made pistol from the stable of iconic firearm manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen, most popular for the Walther PPK used by James Bond. Designed mainly as a sidearm for military and law-enforcement use, it was meant to be the successor of the ageing Walther P1 used by German forces as well as being a candidate to be the US millitary’s sidearm of choice. It is a recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol.

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First commercially available in 1988 – hence, P88 – it was heavily criticised for being bulky, heavy and expensive, as well as lacking manual safety. It failed multiple trials and consequently, was rejected by the US military in favour of the Italian Beretta. To combat some of these issues, a modified P88 Compact was created but again, it failed to catch on due to high costs of manufacturing.

Walther stopped production of the P88 and P88 Compact in 1997 and 2000 respectively. Currently, it is a treasured item among gun enthusiasts, especially in the US. It is also the basis for the extremely popular Umarex CP88 air pistol, used by sports shooting aficionados across the world.

The British Bull Dog

The British Bull Dog is an iconic solid-frame pocket revolver introduced by Philip Webley & Son of Birmingham, England, as far back as 1872. It is considered to be an antique model in the 21st century.

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Originally intended to be carried in one’s coat pocket, it features a (tiny) 2.5-inch barrel and is chambered for .442 Webley or .450 Adams cartridges, with a five-round cylinder. Since it first came into existence, the term Bull Dog has become a synonym for any short barrelled revolver. It is likely that the gun recovered from Asad and Ghulam is simply a short barrelled revolver rather than the original British Bull Dog.

At its peak, the gun was extensively used in the UK and the US. According to historians, it was carried by General George Armstrong Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) during the United States’ Indian Wars. It was also used by the Charles J Guiteau to assasinate US President James A Garfield in 1881.