Friday, November 27, 2015

Paris massacre cops arrest German arms dealer, as 800 'ISIS weapons' seized

Paris massacre cops arrest German arms dealer, as 800 'ISIS weapons' seized

GUNS used by the Islamic State extremists who carried out the Paris massacre could have come from a German arms dealer, it has emerged.


Belgian police stand guard in Brussels
GETTY
Belgian police stand guard in Brussels

Gunmen brandishing Kalashnikovs left the French capital devastated after opening fire on concert-goers and diners in a rampage that left 130 dead and more than 300 injured.

Now police in Germany are investigating whether the weapons were bought from an underground arms dealer trading on the "dark web" which does not show up on internet searches.

The German news channel N-TV says the dealer is a 34-year-old man from Magstadt, a town in Germany’s Baden-Wuttemberg state.

He is reported to have attracted the attention of authorities over illegal arms sales earlier this year and was arrested on Monday.
Police seized his phone and are believed to have found a reference to the sale of four Kalishnikov rifles to “Arabs in Paris”, N-TV reported.

News of the arrest comes after police seized a shipment of 800 shotguns moving from Turkey to Belgium, two countries linked to recent Islamic State-inspired terror plots, sparking fears weapons are continuing to be smuggled across Europe.

A huge manhunt is continuing in Belgium to find several terrorists who are linked to co-ordinated shootings and bombings in Paris earlier this month.

It remains unclear where the cache of weapons was heading but authorities in Italy, where the haul was discovered, warned of the risk that it could end up in ISIS' hands.

People walk past a military truck near Grand Place, Brussels
GETTY
People walk past a military truck near Grand Place, Brussels
Pump action shotgun
GETTY
Pump action shotgun
People stand in front of a house damaged during clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish militantsGETTY
People stand in front of a house damaged during clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants

The shipment of 781 Winchester SXP pump-action shotguns - described as the fastest pump-action rifles on the market - was intercepted in the northeastern city of Trieste, close to the border with Slovenia.

Pump-action rifles are made for hunting and are not considered assault weapons, but were found after police had "substantially" increased their border inspections in the wake of the Paris attacks and subsequent alert in Belgium.

Lt Gen Gabriele Baron said the shipment had not been properly declared to authorities under laws aimed at preventing arms trafficking.




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