3D weapons workshop discovered in barn in Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Four young people aged 17 to 21 were apprehended following the discovery of a secret workshop where semi-automatic pistols were being produced using three-dimensional printing, near Pau.
3D weapons workshop discovered in barn in Pyrénées-Atlantiques
An industrial building concealed in a craft zone in Soumoulou, a locality of 1,600 inhabitants situated at the foot of the Pyrenees, housed an illegal firearms factory. Investigators from the Toulouse Criminal Investigation Division dismantled this site where handguns were being manufactured using a three-dimensional printer.
The investigation began three months ago in the vicinity of Toulouse railway station. Officers stopped a couple in the street and discovered two handguns made using this method on them. This type of manufacturing offers a considerable advantage to traffickers: complete absence of traceability. No register lists these items, which can be transported without leaving any administrative trace. Yves Gollety, head of the Gunsmiths' Trade Union, described these objects as "untraceable" and "completely under the radar" in a report broadcast by franceinfo.
Despite this opacity, technicians managed to advance the investigation by dismantling the seized devices. Careful examination of a spring made it possible to extract a genetic profile, leading to the identification of a young individual on the police records. This discovery directed searches towards the barn in Soumoulou, where a mezzanine served as an assembly and ammunition storage space.
Last Tuesday, four people aged 17 to 21 were placed in police custody. Maître Thierry Sagardoytho, who is conducting their defence, rejected the image of hardened delinquents. He described his clients as "sorcerer's apprentices" rather than future criminals, clarifying that one of them is a student well integrated socially. According to his statements to franceinfo, these young people were selling their production through little-frequented networks.
The pistols changed hands via encrypted messaging services for an average sum of 300 euros. These ghost guns, accessible to small-time delinquents, are a source of concern for the authorities. Daniel Domengé, representative of the Alliance union in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, denounced this system to the same media: the manufacturers deliver the weapons with their ammunition, and the buyers use them at their own risk, which represents an indirect route for circulating more weapons throughout the national territory.
Police are now seeking to assess the total volume of production and to identify the buyers of these homemade pistols.
Source: France Info