Police in Marseille bust network trafficking in 3D-printed weapons

Police in the French southern city of Marseille have dismantled an extensive arms trafficking network – spanning from the Mediterranean to Belgium – accused of selling 3D-printed guns. Prosecutors say the trade in such weapons, which can be virtually impossible to trace, is cause for alarm.

Prosecutors show an FCG-9, a 3D-printable semi-automatic pistol, in Marseille on 5 February 2024, following the dismantling of a network of arms traffickers operating in France and Belgium. © Nicolas TUCAT / AFP

Exhibiting weapons made using 3D printers before being sold online, Marseille's public prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told a press conference on Monday that the arms' seizure was "a first in France".

Led by the national gendarmerie's cyber division, a year of investigation – including the infiltration of Telegram groups – culminated in raids at the end of January across southern and eastern France, as well as Belgium. 

Some 300 police officers were mobilised to arrest 14 people and recover eight 3D printers, seven complete 3D weapons and 24 conventional weapons. Many were undeclared and seized mainly from collectors.

The alleged head of the network was a 26-year-old man from the Var department in the south of France, who had already been convicted of a drugs offence.

After he moved to Belgium, an international arrest warrant was issued for him to be handed over to the French authorities.

Hervé Pétry, the newly appointed head of the French gendarmerie's national cyber unit, told reporters the suspect "shared a libertarian mentality" and was part of a pro-gun movement whose aim was to "distribute weapons to as many people as possible to protect themselves from the state, which they consider to be totalitarian and oppressive".

New criminal techniques

In all, six people have been remanded in custody, while five others are under judicial supervision. All are aged between 18 and 30.

Some of them are accused of helping to manufacture the weapons, while others allegedly acted as intermediaries and resellers.

Buyers – who included collectors and people linked to drug trafficking – were also arrested.

To avoid checks, the 3D-printed gun parts were sent one by one to the buyers.

"This is still prohibited by law, with penalties of up to six years' imprisonment," Bessone said, adding that "crime is adapting to new techniques".

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Self-assembled

Among the weapons seized were FGC-9s, whose name stands for "Fuck Gun Control 9mm". With characteristics similar to machine guns, they can be manufactured using a 3D printer and following guides easily found on the dark web.

Harder to trace than conventional guns, they can then be resold for between €1,000 and €1,500.

According to Pétry, the weapons seized were reportedly of "good to very good" quality, "95 percent close to the original model".

An FGC-9-type weapon was used last June in an attempted murder in the centre of Marseille, when two people on a stolen motorbike shot at people gathered outside a shop. The weapon was subsequently recovered and two suspects arrested.

In 2019, a shooter in Halle, Germany, used a self-designed 3D weapon in an attack on a synagogue and a Turkish restaurant, which left two people dead.

According to a report by the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, the driving force behind designs for 3D-printed firearms that have proliferated online is "a broad movement of gun enthusiasts, hobbyists, and ideologues who believe bearing arms is a human right".