Overview
- The Landgericht Wuppertal on Friday sentenced the 60-year-old defendant to six and a half years in prison after a negotiated plea and ordered about €74,000 seized as alleged proceeds.
- Police uncovered four hidden rooms under his car workshop during an October 2025 raid and later recovered about 300 sharp firearms, 13 anti‑tank weapons, 38 hand grenades and roughly 100,000 rounds of ammunition.
- Forensic teams and the Kampfmittelräumdienst had to clear explosives and render some ordnance safe, and prosecutors said dozens of the seized weapons were immediately functional.
- Investigations that involved Bundespolizei, the LKA, BKA and Europol began with undercover operations and a tip about a weapons transport; the defendant admitted buying 70 Skorpion machine pistols in Poland while claiming to be a collector.
- Prosecutors continue to probe the weapons’ provenance and potential buyers, and the federal weapons authority must now decide which items are returned, retained for evidence or destroyed.