Not too long ago, a shooting took place in Munich, Germany. Nine people were killed in this tragedy, and an official investigation was launched. As it turns out, 18-year old shooter David Ali Sonboly purchased his gun from the darknet. Bavarian police officials revealed they had located the seller, and taken him into custody.
Ever since the Munich shooting took place, government officials were pointing to the darknet. Although they had no credible evidence to back up those claims at that time, a gut feeling should not be ignored. It turns out the gun used for the shooting was indeed purchased on the Internet, and the seller has been apprehended.
Munich Shooting Weapon Vendor Apprehended
The investigation lead to an unnamed 31-year-old German male being arrested recently. He claims to have sold the Glock 17 to Sonboly, and similar sales were made to other people around the world. Dealing in firearms is illegal unless one has a specific license. Even so, using the darknet is not the most common place to do so when people have honest intentions.
Similar to how most of these darknet operations work, German police officials pretended to be an interested buyer for an automatic weapon, as well as a Glock 17. By offering the price of US$9,021, it was not overly difficult to strike a deal with the alleged Munich shooting seller. The seller was apprehended at the time of the transaction.
The Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office briefly stated:
“The successful investigation proves once again that there is no complete anonymity on the Internet and no comprehensive protection against prosecution. This is also true for the so-called ‘darknet’.”
Ever since police officials focused their attention on this darknet seller, new evidence has shown up. While his bragging is a valid statement that can be upheld in any court, there is other substantial evidence to keep him in custody. No specifics were revealed as to what this evidence entails exactly, though.
It took quite some time to narrow down the search to this one particular darknet vendor, though. A team of 65 people was assembled to sift through darknet weapons listings and other pieces of evidence. Additionally, a total of 250 witnesses have been interviewed regarding the Munich shooting. This helped the police look into the Marburg area, as eyewitnesses mentioned Sonboly took a bus there on multiple occasions.
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