The weapons were stored in the shed of a property.
In January, the gendarmes of the Châlons-en-Champagne company seized more than 8.5 tonnes of old weapons from a private individual, then destroyed it, we learned on Monday from the gendarmerie and parquet.
A preliminary investigation was opened for possession of category A and B weapons, indicated the Châlons-en-Champagne public prosecutor's office, confirming information from the Union.
“Tens of thousands of pieces of armament”, including “cannons”, “magazines”, “firing pins” and “casings”, but also “shells” and “cartridge cases” were “stored in the hangar of “a completely illegal property”, indicated the gendarmes in a press release, without giving the name of the town of this discovery.
They did not say if it was a collector.
Up to five years of imprisonment
Under the direction of the prosecutor, the operation took place over three days and mobilized “several dozen gendarmes”.
A first intervention by civil security deminers “had already made it possible to evacuate more than four tonnes of dangerous active material (powder, primers, etc.)”.
In its press release, the gendarmerie recalls that the possession of firearms meets “very strict rules, including when they are historic or neutralized”.
Anyone violating these rules faces up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros, she added.