The 23-year-old man who was arrested at the Brussels South railway station with a loaded Kalashnikov last week says that he came into possession of the military grade weapon by chance and had come to Belgium to sell it. The man appeared before the Brussels magistrates’ court today.
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Suspect found with Kalashnikov at Brussels South says he stole the weapon ‘by chance’
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“My client came into possession of the weapon in the Lille area of France,” his lawyer Benoit Lemal told the court. “Whilst moving house, he saw a car left unlocked and unattended. He took the opportunity to steal a bag from the vehicle. To his great surprise, he found a weapon inside the bag.”
According to Lemal, the suspect, a man in his twenties, then decided to travel to Belgium to sell the weapon. “He had heard through the grapevine that such a weapon could easily be sold in Belgium and that he could make money that way. He is not part of a criminal organisation, as the public prosecutor’s office claims,” the lawyer insisted.
No plea for release
The court was deciding whether to confirm the suspect’s detention. “I have not, in any case, requested his release,” said lawyer Lemal. “I shall defer to the presiding judge’s judgement.”
A second suspect, also in his twenties, appeared before the court this morning too. “According to the public prosecutor’s office, my client is a member of a criminal organisation involved in arms trafficking, but he denies this,” his lawyer Mustapha El Hajjami says. He asked the court to place his client under electronic monitoring.
In the event the court decided that both suspects would remain in gaol.