82 arrested for mail-order firearm trafficking between Netherlands and Poland

Police in the Netherlands and Poland busted a family accused of trafficking firearms from the Netherlands to Poland via a mail-order service. They arrested 82 suspects, primarily members of the same family, in a joint operation on April 25, Europol, who supported the bust, said on Monday.

One suspect was arrested in the Netherlands, the other 81 in Poland. Police also seized 250 firearms and raided some 300 locations across Poland, and two in Beverwijk and Heemskerk in the Netherlands.

According to Europol, the family members residing in the Netherland, including the alleged ringleader of the arms trafficking gang, acquired firearms of various types - both legal and illegal - from across Europe. They stored the guns in the Netherlands, sending them to family members in Poland as needed. The Polish side of the operation would then convert the deactivated weapons into live-firing ones and sell them on online marketplaces.

The guns were advertised as "antique" or "deactivated" but were sold live alongside ammunition to trusted clients. The organized crime group sent the firearms to customers via parcel delivery companies. Up to bust on April 25, the gang allegedly distributed several hundred illegal firearms in this way, Europol said.