A 33-year-old man who admitted to selling hundreds of weapons, sent in 80 packages with a total weight of nearly a ton, was sentenced to seven months in prison in Besançon, the prosecution said on Friday May 7.
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This former artilleryman passionate about weapons was tried Thursday, May 6 by the Criminal Court of Besançon for "
unauthorized acquisition, possession and transfer of weapons
" and "
smuggling of goods dangerous for public security
", within the framework of 'an appearance of guilty plea.
Between 2018 and 2020, he sold "
250 objects
" such as shells, grenades, guns or ammunition to customers generally domiciled abroad, in Europe, "out of
passion and to make ends meet
", said Étienne Manteaux, public prosecutor at a press conference.
The financial judicial inquiries service (SEJF) was seized of the investigation last October after the discovery by customs, at the postal sorting center of Saint-Priest (Rhône), of a shell hidden in a parcel of 12 kilos.
A lover of ancient weapons
A search carried out at the shipper's home, on the outskirts of Besançon, uncovered 28 weapons of war, some of which had not been hit by shells and grenades which had an explosive potential, 36 long guns and a large stock of ammunition. "
These are rather old weapons, but which are not neutralized and are in working order,
" notes Étienne Manteaux. This underlines the “
risk that these weapons do not end up in the wrong hands
”. The thirty-something, a self-employed person with no criminal record, explained that he "was
looking for shells and ammunition in the forests around Besançon with metal detectors
", he added.