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Accused with his defense attorney in Dortmund (March 2022)
Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa
A 69-year-old man was sentenced to two years and three months in prison because large stocks of weapons and ammunition were discovered in his Dortmund apartment.
The district court found the pensioner guilty on Monday of violating the War Weapons Control Act, the Weapons Act and the Explosives Act, a spokesman said.
The accused had largely admitted the allegations on the first day of the hearing in mid-March.
Accordingly, the defendant also confessed to owning some weapons that did not actually belong to him - possibly to cover for a friend, as the court spokesman said.
The verdict is not yet final, a revision or appeal is possible.
256 kilograms of ammunition
In September 2020, a large arsenal of explosives, weapons and ammunition was found on the man.
The search of his apartment, a garage and a warehouse lasted nine days.
At that time, numerous pistols, rifles, revolvers and more than a dozen submachine guns were seized.
Officials found 256 kilograms of ammunition in the garage.
In the apartment they found eight kilograms of explosives TNT.
The list of finds also included old weapon parts such as sawed-off barrels and breeches from war weapons.
The court spokesman explained that the trial showed that the accused was a collector who had hoarded weapons and weapon parts under chaotic conditions.
However, there was no evidence that the man had connections in extremist circles or wanted to trade in weapons.
Overall, the man had hoarded a “huge hodgepodge” of weapons, ammunition, explosives and weapon parts.
Some of the banned collectibles were also rusty or in poor condition.
"The man collected every weapon he could get his hands on," said the court spokesman.
wit/dpa/AFP