Fourteen people suspected of belonging to a vast network that produces and resells weapons made from 3D printers, as well as buyers, were arrested in France and Belgium at the end of January, the prosecutor's office in Marseille (southwest of France) said on Monday. .
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Following a year-long investigation by the Cyber Division of the French National Gendarmerie, investigators conducted searches in late January in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (southeast) and Ile-de-France (Paris region), Grand-Est (northeast) regions. and Midi-Pyrénées (southwest) were able to recover eight 3D printers, seven complete 3D weapons and twenty-four conventional weapons.
“This is a first in France” that “continues to worry us,” said Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone at a press conference presenting three of these weapons seizures.
At the head of this network was a 26-year-old man, previously convicted of a drug offense, who lived in the town of Roquebrune-sur-Argens (southeast). Since he has now moved to Belgium, an international arrest warrant has been issued against him.
“He shared a libertarian mentality” as part of the “American pro-gun movement,” whose goal is “to distribute weapons to as many people as possible to protect themselves from the state, which they consider totalitarian and oppressive .” », Explains Colonel Hervé Pétry, head of the national cyber unit.
“This phenomenon is not new, but it is taking on a worrying dimension,” he continued.
In addition to this person, six other people were detained, five were placed under judicial supervision and one was remanded in custody. All are between eighteen and thirty years old and some have criminal records.
Among them, some were involved in the production of weapons, others acted as middlemen and resellers. Buyers (collectors or people associated with drug trafficking) were also arrested.
In order to avoid controls, the parts produced in the 3D printer were sent to the buyer individually.
These weapons are of “good or even very good” quality and “are 95% close to the original model,” said Colonel Pétry.
They could then be resold for 1,000 to 1,500 euros, “i.e. cheaper than a Kalashnikov,” according to the public prosecutor’s office.