Sitting in his father's shabby one-room firearms shop in Pakistan's wild northwestern tribal region, 16-year-old Dilnawaz Khan puts the final touches on a small but deadly pistol shaped like a simple fountain pen.

Dilnawaz is one of 12,000 workers in Pakistan's largest weapons bazaar - a mostly unregulated crush of small shops on the dusty streets of Darra Adamkhel, a lawless village where customers can find anything from an assault rifle to an anti-aircraft gun, usually at cut-rate prices.

Gone are the boom days of the 1980s, when Islamic fighters, CIA operatives and ordinary Afghans fighting the Soviet invasion of their country - just across the border - would flock to Darra Adamkhel, and sometimes place orders for massive numbers of weapons.

These days the town, 40 kilometers southwest of the frontier city of Peshawar, relies on a steady trickle of Pakistani tribesmen intent on protecting their land, drug smugglers and other criminals. No questions are asked of anyone seeking to buy a weapon in the town, and the notion of a background check is alien.

``Our business was so good during the 1980s when the Afghans were fighting their holy war against Soviet aggression,'' said Jan Muhammad, a 63-year-old arms dealer who is considered one of the leading experts on manufacturing pistols. But Muhammad bemoans the hard times his family has fallen on since then.

``I don't want my sons to join this trade because there is no future for them in this business,'' he said.

The government has little control over the tribal regions, and in many places troops and police do not stray from major roads under agreements dating to British rule that grant local tribes semi-autonomous status.

Officials say, however, that they are planning steps to control the arms trade.

``People have been in the weapons business at Darra [Adamkhel] for decades, but we are considering proposals to regulate it,'' said Brigadier Mahmood Shah, head of the tribal regions in northwestern Pakistan. He said the weapons made at Darra are of ``low quality, and are more like souvenirs than weapons.''

Buyers disagree.

``I have a feud going with some people in my village and I have come here to buy a pistol,'' said Mohammed Raza, 38, who lives on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province. He said he had no doubt the weapon would prove deadly if he chooses to use it.

Raza scoffed at the notion the government will ever be able to stop people from buying weapons in a region where nearly every home contains a gun and many men walk the streets with rifles slung over their shoulders.

One reason for the ubiquitousness is that the workmen at Darra Adamkhel are masters of putting together functional copies of some of the world's most popular weapons. A copy of an Italian-made, pump-action shotgun, which would cost about US$1,300 (HK$10,140) in the West, can be had for between 3,000 and 8,000 rupees (HK$400 and HK$1,000). And a replica of the famous AK-47 assault rifle goes for about 3,000 rupees in Darra Adamkhel, 10 times less then the real thing but just as deadly.

The arms dealers see nothing wrong with the trade, and many are proud to be carrying on the family business.

``My father was a master of making guns and rifles. He made the copy of a .303 rifle in 1920,'' said Jan Muhammad, 63.

But, after making weapons for nearly half a century, he said he is frustrated by his decline in fortunes. ``All you get out of 40 or 45 years in this job is a bend in the back and a pair of eyeglasses,''

But others said the weapons trade is still the way to go for young men in the region.

``This is very attractive business for poor people of this area,'' said Gul Zaman, 40, who is considered an expert in copying US-made 5.56 mm automatic rifles. ``If you have 6,000 rupees for the startup costs, you're in business.''