When a police department in Pakistan received a package containing guns worth US$11,000 from American company Smith & Wesson, the department considered it a gift. But according to U.S. laws, it was a bribe.

"This is just one of several cases where companies try to bribe officials in developing countries," U.S. regulatory officials told International Business Time Monday.

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Even if giving presents in relation to business deals are customized in some countries, it is forbidden according to The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the newspaper reports on its website.

"One should consider this a wake-up call for U.S. small or medium sized enterprises, that aims at the high-risk markets," Kara Brockmeier, chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit (FCPA) Unit , said.

The 162- year-old weapons manufacturer Smith & Wesson agreed to pay US$2 million in fines for bribing Pakistani police officers in 2008, when the company earned US$107.852 in profits for selling 548 pistols.

It was not the first time Smith & Wesson has been caught, with a smoking gun in its hand. According to officials, the company had made attempts to make deals with presents involved in countries like Nepal, Indonesia, Turkey and Bangladesh.

The company's latest financial earnings report is now subject to an investigation concerning FCPA violations going back to 2010.

"We are cooperating with authorities all we can in this matter, and we have made a thorough inspection or our policies and procedures," the company stated.

The Springfield, Massachussets-based firearms manufacturer reported a total sale of US$626 million with close to US$90 million in profit in 2013.

The FCPA law has been subject to criticism in a TV program in 2009 on PBS Frontline looking at international bribery.

Here, critics said the FCPA law gives U.S. companies a disadvantage compared to other countries. In the United Kingdom, giving gifts to government officials in return for business deals is legal.