A successful operation coordinated by Europol and led by law enforcement from Poland has led to the arrest of a firearms trafficker supplying weapons to criminals across Europe. Authorities from Austria, Czechia, Germany and Sweden also participated in the investigation.
The man was arrested in Poland while transporting weapon kits that he had purchased in Austria. A subsequent search of the suspect’s home and a nearby forest carried out by Polish investigators uncovered dozens of illegally-held weapons including pistols, rifles, revolvers and automatic weapons such as Škorpions, as well as over 80 essential weapon parts and more than 20,000 pieces of ammunition. They were all hidden in barrels buried underground.
The suspect, a Polish national, had previously worked as a licensed firearms dealer. This gave him expertise regarding firearms laws in Europe, including a loophole regarding weapons parts kits in Austria, which in turn supported his illegal activities. After buying weapons parts kits in Austria, investigators believe the suspect sent some parts to Poland, and smuggled the rest into Poland himself. Once in Poland, he manufactured the weapons before trafficking them.
Further investigation proved that the suspect had indeed sold dozens of illegal weapons, including automatic guns and pistols, to criminal networks operating in Germany and Poland. This led to the suspect being designated a high-value target by the authorities.
With international cooperation and exchanging intelligence, Swedish investigators discovered that a violent gang was using weapons sold by the suspect to carry out contract killings. Moreover, authorities established that firearms previously seized in Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden could be attributed to the suspect.
The suspect initially came to authorities’ attention after Europol shared intelligence with Austrian authorities concerning an individual who was buying large amounts of weapon kits in Austria. This led Austrian police to begin surveillance of the suspect, while a separate weapons trafficking investigation was opened in Poland.
Europol then coordinated operational meetings with the participating authorities and provided analysis of the data received from the Member States, together with real-time cross-checks. Two weapons experts from Europol were deployed to Poland to assist with technical assessment of the seized weapons.
The nature of these cases requires law enforcement to act quickly before any weapons can be moved, disposed of, or used. In this particular case, the fast initiation of the coordination by Europol and the agile exchange of information between the authorities involved were key to success.
