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Guns, anti-tank weapons seized from rented storage unit
Emmanuel Lozano/The Arizona Republic
These are some of the weapons found at Power Mini Storage on Thursday.
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 16, 2003 06:20 PM
Federal investigators working on a nationwide illegal weapons case discovered a huge arsenal of rocket launchers, hand grenades, machine guns and military explosives Thursday in a Queen Creek storage locker.
Among more than 100 weapons seized by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were at least 10 rocket launchers and bazookas, some with rockets.
The discovery comes just two days after the Bush administration admitted grave concerns that domestic jetliners are vulnerable to terrorist attacks using shoulder-fired rocket launchers.
However, ATF agents said the arms found Thursday are not linked to any known terrorist operation.
Instead, they were owned by a Boston man - an ex-convict from Arizona - who divulged the location of the Queen Creek arsenal after he was arrested last month in Massachusetts as part of an investigation into machine gun trafficking.
The suspect, Scott E. Segal, 36, formerly of Tempe, was identified as a firearms collector convicted of a weapons violation in Arizona a decade ago. "We were expecting to pick up a machine gun or two, but there's a lot more than that," said Joe Gordon, assistant special agent in charge for the ATF in Arizona.
Agents called the cache a "disturbing amount of military weaponry," and enough firepower to arm a military unit or a substantial terrorist outfit.
The arms appeared to date back to the Vietnam era and World War II, and to come from countries all over the world. Agents spent hours identifying and tagging gear - from a tiny derringer and novelty "pen guns" to military demolition kits capable of blowing up bridges.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0116weapons-seized-ON.html
Emmanuel Lozano/The Arizona Republic
These are some of the weapons found at Power Mini Storage on Thursday.
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 16, 2003 06:20 PM
Federal investigators working on a nationwide illegal weapons case discovered a huge arsenal of rocket launchers, hand grenades, machine guns and military explosives Thursday in a Queen Creek storage locker.
Among more than 100 weapons seized by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were at least 10 rocket launchers and bazookas, some with rockets.
The discovery comes just two days after the Bush administration admitted grave concerns that domestic jetliners are vulnerable to terrorist attacks using shoulder-fired rocket launchers.
However, ATF agents said the arms found Thursday are not linked to any known terrorist operation.
Instead, they were owned by a Boston man - an ex-convict from Arizona - who divulged the location of the Queen Creek arsenal after he was arrested last month in Massachusetts as part of an investigation into machine gun trafficking.
The suspect, Scott E. Segal, 36, formerly of Tempe, was identified as a firearms collector convicted of a weapons violation in Arizona a decade ago. "We were expecting to pick up a machine gun or two, but there's a lot more than that," said Joe Gordon, assistant special agent in charge for the ATF in Arizona.
Agents called the cache a "disturbing amount of military weaponry," and enough firepower to arm a military unit or a substantial terrorist outfit.
The arms appeared to date back to the Vietnam era and World War II, and to come from countries all over the world. Agents spent hours identifying and tagging gear - from a tiny derringer and novelty "pen guns" to military demolition kits capable of blowing up bridges.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0116weapons-seized-ON.html
