The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has demanded eight years in prison against a 26-year-old Frenchman. He is suspected of possessing a large quantity of weapons and ammunition that he wanted to smuggle abroad. The police caught him in May 2025 on the A16 near Prinsenbeek.
When the police opened the Frenchman’s trunk on the evening of May 2, there was a large collection of weapons: twenty hand grenades, two assault rifles, two semi-automatic firearms, a silencer, four magazines, a butt and several bullet cartridges.
The police arrested the man and started an investigation. The Frenchman appeared to have been checked by customs earlier that evening when he was on his way to Rotterdam. He stated that he was on his way to visit family and was able to continue his journey without any problems.
On the way to Belgium with weapons
But according to the Public Prosecution Service, the man had a weapons transfer shortly afterwards and then left for Belgium. “He said he had to hand over the suitcase to an otherwise unknown person. However, this did not happen only thanks to the intervention of the police,” the justice department reports.
While the Frenchman previously denied knowing that he was transporting weapons and ammunition, according to the Public Prosecution Service, he stated during the trial on Friday that he had accepted this ‘job’ from a family member. He would have done this to make money.
‘Bizarrely large amount of weapons
The public prosecutor spoke of a ‘bizarrely large’ amount of weapons and emphasized that this type of cargo is a ‘threat to society’, which included liquidations and other attacks in the criminal circuit.
The court will make its ruling on January 23.