Overview
- The trial began in Wuppertal on Monday with the 35‑year‑old co‑defendant confessing, the 38‑year‑old indicating he will testify, and the 60‑year‑old alleged ringleader contesting parts of the case.
- Investigators found roughly 300 firearms and nearly 100,000 rounds of ammunition hidden behind a private Militaria display, including machine guns, machine pistols, precision rifles, hand grenades and anti‑tank weapons.
- Undercover buys staged by police led to the arrest of the main suspect on the A1 motorway last October and triggered multi‑day searches that involved about 200 officers and weeks of cataloguing and removal.
- Prosecutors allege the 60‑year‑old stored weapons for resale and sold arms to the two co‑defendants, investigators cite a witness in Poland who corroborates cross‑border trade, and the men face charges under the Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz with penalties up to ten years in prison.
- Authorities warn the mix of modern and historic ordnance and tools to potentially reactivate weapons posed a serious public safety threat, investigators are probing possible organized‑crime buyers, and prosecutors signalled that fuller confessions would narrow likely sentences.