Argentina seizes arsenal of Nazi weapons

PHOTO CAPTION: A police officer puts weapons to display along with Nazi paraphernalia after they were seized in Quilmes during an international security operation, in this undated handout photograph made available to Reuters on November 15, 2024. Argentina Federal Police/Handout via REUTERS

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine police arrested a man in Buenos Aires who possessed a large number of vintage Nazi weapons decorated with Third Reich symbols from Adolf Hitler's infamous regime, officials said on Friday.

Police seized over 60 firearms from the man's home, including 43 rifles emblazoned with Nazi eagle markings, 15 pistols, five bayonets and a machine gun, according to a report from Argentina's federal police.

Nazi flags, military uniforms, hats, helmets as well as busts of Hitler were also confiscated by authorities, the report said.

Personnel from the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum assisted the law enforcement action, which sought to enforce a national anti-discrimination law, the police report said.

The home where the objects were found is located in the city of Quilmes, near the southern edge of the sprawling metro area of Buenos Aires, the capital. Police had been tracking the man after he traveled abroad and was implicated in an investigation initiated by the federal police of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

After World War Two, many Nazi officials including notorious death camp supervisor Adolf Eichmann emigrated to Argentina to avoid trials for war crimes.

Last year, local security forces raided and shut down an Argentine bookstore that was selling books about Nazism online.



(Reporting Maximilian Heath; Writing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Leslie Adler)