“To my knowledge, this is a first in France.
» By presenting this Monday some of the weapons in perfect working order manufactured by 3D printers seized last week, the public prosecutor of Marseille did not hide his concern.
Sold on the dark web (the illegal Internet) for between 1,000 and 1,500 euros, payable in cryptocurrency, these Lego-looking rifles were marketed throughout France by a network of “libertarians” as hostile to the State as they were resolute to put weapons within everyone's reach.
An ideology imported from the United States, which fuels certain groups there advocating violence.
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Patrols on the dark web and the infiltration of an encrypted Telegram messaging group by the national cyber unit of the national gendarmerie enabled a raid at the beginning of last week in the Var, but also in the Paris region , in Brittany, in the Grand Est, in Occitanie and in Belgium where the French leader of the network was based and who is awaiting his extradition under a European arrest warrant.
Of the 14 people arrested by the 300 gendarmes mobilized under the direction of the Jirs (Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction) of Marseille which opened an investigation last September, 12 were referred, six imprisoned and the others placed under judicial supervision.
Among them, collectors, but also radical political activists, all aged from 18 to their thirties.
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