Spanish police have released incredible images of an enormous weapons haul seized from an organised criminal gang.
The collection includes more than 10,000 assault rifles, machine guns, revolvers, pistols and 400 grenades and mortars.
Authorities said some of the weapons were even ‘capable of shooting down aircraft.’
Four men and one woman were arrested after raids in Cantabria, Girona, and Vizcaya in January.
The criminals had been operating under the front of a historical weapons workshop near Bilbao that bought supposedly defunct firearms online.
The weapons were restored and sold on the black market throughout Europe, according to police.
The haul is believed to have an estimated black market value of around €10 million (£8.75 million).
Cash amounting to €80,000 (£70,000) was also seized.
Europol, which supported the operation, revealed the firearms were sold in Spain, France and Belgium.
It was previously reported that terrorists are finding it easier than ever to get guns because of the flow of illegal weapons flowing from the Balkans into the heart of western Europe.
A spokesman for the Spanish Government said at the time: ‘This modus operandi used to purchase weapons is the same as the one used for the attacks carried out in Paris on January 7th, 2015, against employees of the satirical weekly “Charlie Hebdo”, in which 12 people were killed and another 11 injured, all with recommissioned weapons acquired at the time from a Slovak gunsmith.’
The Spanish Government says police are continuing to crackdown on the illegal sale of weapons to organised crime gangs and terrorists.
