Wuppertal (dpa / lnw) - Three defendants between the ages of 27 and 47 have to answer to the court in Wuppertal for illegal arms trafficking. According to the indictment, one of the men is the son of a long-established arms dealer in Remscheid. The weapons for the illegal business - revolvers, rifles and "pump guns" - are said to come from the warehouse in his shop.
The trio is said to have removed the license plates from the weapons, covered up the shortages in the warehouse and sold the weapons misappropriated in this way to the rocker and red-light milieu.
One of the defendants said at the start of the trial at the district court on Thursday that he only kept one weapon. The other two defendants remained silent. They are said to have met in the rocker and red-light milieu.
The police and the public prosecutor's office tracked down the suspects during the investigation into the so-called "King of Berliner Platz", a wholesale dealer in Wuppertal.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor said there were clear connections between him - he is now serving a nine-year prison sentence - and the suspected arms dealers who are now being charged.
