A significant number of old “Zastava” revolvers, clearly marked as police property, have appeared on the American market in several tranches since October of last year, despite the fact that no official export of this type of pistol has been recorded, BIRN has revealed. The law does not prescribe under what conditions the Ministry of Interior (MUP) can sell weapons seized from citizens, which leaves a gray zone for potential corruption.
Last year, bloggers from the YouTube channel of an American gun store, with enthusiasm typical for a culture that glorifies weapons, rejoiced at opening a crate full of pistols.
Inside it, as they say, are M83 “Zastava” revolvers.
Are these truly production surpluses? On one crate, it clearly states that the weapons were intended for destruction, and it is obvious that some pistols were refurbished. On the handle of one revolver, a name, a case number, and the acronym of the MUP are clearly written in Cyrillic.
BIRN journalists analyzed the details and concluded that the pistols could be confiscated civilian weaponry, or precisely that which citizens themselves handed over just a year earlier following the tragedies in Belgrade, Dubona, and Malo Orašje.
“What happened was not what they were promised was the goal of this entire story. It turns out that profit in a completely gray zone comes first, before the safety of citizens,” says Saša Dragojlo, a BIRN journalist.
To Americans belonging to a subculture obsessed with weapons, it was not strange that very personal things were engraved on supposedly factory surpluses.
“This one is interesting, it has a sports team crest engraved on it,” can be heard in the YouTube video.
On one revolver, it is clearly visible that someone carved a double-headed eagle into the handle.
“Hey, is this the football club you were talking about?” one man asked in the recording.
“I think it’s just the national eagle,” another replies. “The engravings are great, there’s all sorts of stuff here,” the first man concludes.
There is all sorts of stuff in the crates, but no answers to important questions. This gun sales firm did not respond regarding whom they imported the pistols from.
“It seems very unprofessional – that we have personal data of citizens, crates that were practically transferred from Serbian institutions to the USA where American YouTubers show it to a wide audience,” states Dragojlo.
On other crates, there are Cyrillic markings KG and PS, which experts contacted by BIRN assess could have something to do with Kragujevac and a police station (Policijska Stanica). Can the police do whatever they want with seized or handed-over weapons?
“In the MUP, everything is resolved by dispatch; there are no legal or sub-legal acts regulating the sale of weaponry. One of our anonymous sources who is in the business of selling weapons said that something is often invoiced as faulty, however, it is then sold under the table and money is earned,” emphasizes Dragojlo.
Who profits from such weaponry? Only one case from five years ago is known to the public, when the weekly NIN revealed that the Ministry of Interior, while headed by Nebojša Stefanović, sold weapons from the police to the firm GIM, which was represented at the time by the minister’s father.
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Source: N1, Photo: Printscreen Youtube / Classic Firearms