An arsenal seized from organized crime. Weapons seen in war zones, yet circulating on city streets.
It happens in Torre Annunziata, and it's almost midnight. The evening is very humid and colder than usual, the last throes of winter. A Fiat Panda is traveling along Via Andolfi. The Carabinieri police unit decides to stop the small car with two people inside. The driver is a 42-year-old Neapolitan on probation, while the passenger is a 39-year-old woman from Giugliano in Campania , also already known to law enforcement.
The paddle goes up and signals a halt. The Panda pulls over, the window rolls down. In the silence of the night, a single phrase : "You've hit the jackpot, Brigadie."
In the car the two were carrying:
- 1 single-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, "Baikal" brand;
- 1 "mp40" 9mm submachine gun, a German WWII war weapon, complete with magazine;
- 1 5.45 caliber machine gun, "Jaker" brand, mod. AP 74, modified to use 9mm ammunition;
- 1 single-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, "Franchi" brand, model 12 GA;
- 1 5.45 caliber machine gun, "Zastava" brand, AK-74 model, of Balkan origin;
- 2 5.45 caliber machine guns, model AK-74;
- 298 5.45 caliber cartridges, 42 9 caliber cartridges, 81 12 caliber cartridges.
The weapons all have magazines and are in perfect working order.
The two did not resist and were arrested, while the weapons—which appear to have been taken from one of those lists of death traffickers—were seized and will be subjected to lengthy ballistic tests to verify their possible use in bloodbaths or other crimes.
