German police find arms stockpile after man dies
June 25, 2018
An ambulance team alerted police after accidentally finding a large amount of weapons and ammunition in a residential area of the eastern German town of Calau, authorities said on Monday.
The paramedics were called after a 46-year-old man was found dead in his apartment. According to preliminary information, the man likely died of natural causes and his body was discovered by his father.
After arriving to the scene on Sunday, the medics noticed the weapons in the man's apartment and notified the police, which subsequently found even more weapons and boxes of ammunition in the man's basement and garage.
The tenant shared the house with other people living in separate housing units.
Read more: Gun control vs. gun rights
Neighbors evacuated
Police said they have found rifles, pistols, boxes of ammunition, hand grenades, and non-lethal bombs used for training purposes. Some of the ammunition stems from World War II, according to the police.
The authorities then set up a protective perimeter around the house and the garage and forced the neighbors to evacuate. Over 70 people were moved from their homes while the police secured the weapons. Specialist teams later detonated some of the ammunition in a controlled explosion.
Citizens were able to return home on Sunday evening.
Old bombs still buried
German authorities often conduct similar evacuation efforts to allow for defusing of World War II bombs, many of which lie buried below German cities to this day. Finding weapons' arsenals, however, is a much rarer occurrence due to the country's relatively strict gun laws.
Read more: Heckler & Koch quietly becomes world's most ethical gunmaker
Police said they were probing the incident to determine a possible violation of Germany's law on military-grade weapons.
dj/rt (dpa, AFP)