Where the StG. 58s went

[Ghost]

I figured that this was interesting. mostly the article is complaining about arms trafficking but it shows where our StGs came from and went.

http://www.nisat.org/publications/ar.../Chapter4.html

in 1996 the Austrian Ministry of Defence sold 40,000 obsolete StG-58 assault rifles to a Swiss trading company called Brügger + Thomet Feinmechanik.37 The Austrian Interior Ministry authorized the
export of the weapons to Switzerland; but, while these remained stored in Austrian military warehouses between March 1997 and September 1998, the Swiss company sold 17,000 of them to foreign customers.38


Under Austrian law, military assault rifles have to be deactivated or demilitarized
before being exported, unless the Cabinet explicitly authorizes the sale of military equipment to a foreign client. Cabinet authorization should result in the issuance of an export certificate. However, Brügger + Thomet was able to re-export the rifles from Austria to its clients without such approval. Part of the weaponry sold to foreign
clients was demilitarized, but much of it was not.


A large proportion of the rifles were actually exported from Austria with Swiss transit documents, but without any specific export authorization from the Austrian government.39 Recipients were the military and the prison service in Botswana, as well as various arms dealers in the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and the USA. In September 1996, the Austrian authorities had issued an export licence for the 40,000 assault rifles to Switzerland with a written remark containing a list of the
‘possible destinations’ of the StG-58s. But no export licences had been issued in
Austria when the actual sale of the weaponry to private companies in these countries took place.40


Remarkably, a letter dated 23 November 1998 from the Swiss company to the
Austrian Ministry of the Interior requested certificates for the export of 1,575 StG-58 assault rifles and later one hundred StG-58s to Botswana, but the Swiss transit documents for these weapons were issued in November 1996 and February 1998 respectively. Attached to the request, the Swiss company provided copies of three end-user certificates from a commander of the Botswana Defence Force and a commissioner of the Botswana Prison Service, dated 10 June 1997, 17 July 1997 and 6 January 1998. The documents mention 1500, 100 and 75 items respectively. According to the end-user certificate for the two shipments to the Botswana Defence Force, another private company, ‘Beaverpride Holdings’, is stated as the supplier. The Botswana Defence Force is stated as the end-user. On the sales register of Brügger + Thomet, the transactions with clients in Botswana are dated October 1997 and April 1998.


According this register, another deal by the Swiss company was the sale on 9 July 1997 of 1,000 rifles to the AcvilaGroup, a company in Bucharest, Romania. 41 At the time of the sale, the original company Brügger + Thomet Feinmechanik had been deregistered in Switzerland. A new company Brügger + Thomet AG was not registered until six weeks after the indicated sale. Switzerland only issued a transit certificate in March 1997 for the transport of the weapons from Austria to Romania. The transit document mentions 5,200 FN FALs, including accessories. No export licence was
issued in Austria or in Switzerland. It is not clear whether a Romanian import certificate or an end-user certificate was issued.42


There was also the sale of 400 assault rifles shown on an import certificate issued by the Dutch Department for Import and Export of the Ministry for Economic Affairs, dated 22 October 1998.43 The importer in this case is mentioned as ‘J.F.Y. PO BOX 145, 3632 ZT Loenen Aan De Vecht’. The exporter is said to be the Austrian Ministry of Defence with a PO Box in Vienna, but no export licence was issued by Austria for the transaction. 44 The deal was brokered by Brügger + Thomet in Switzerland. No end-user certificate was issued in the Netherlands either. The sales register of the Swiss company listing the sales of the assault rifles includes three similar exports to the same PO Box in the Netherlands. 45


None of the entries in the sales list mentions the demilitarization or deactivation of the weapons, nor is there a copy of the ‘deactivation protocol’ required under Austrian export regulations.46


On 4 November 1998, the successor company Brügger + Thomet AG received a letter from the Austrian Ministry of the Interior in Vienna containing a reminder of the original contract agreement and referring to Austrian export regulations and restrictions. It was generally understood that the 40,000 assault rifles had been sold after being deactivated (demilitarized), and possibly sold to the collectors’ markets in
Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, the USA, France, the UK and Northern Ireland. The weapons could be sold without Austrian government approval, provided they were exported – after deactivation – to Switzerland. 47


Brügger + Thomet acknowledged these contract restrictions in a written reply of 23 November 1998, but the company was under the impression that no further authorization by the Austrian government for transactions was required for re-export.48 ‘It goes without saying’, the letter states, ‘the prison guard/service of Botswana only procures fully operational StG 58’s.’ The company further provides the annexed list of the 24 transactions of the assault rifles that took place up to September 1998. Deactivation of the exported rifles is mentioned with regard to only three out of the 24 listed cases.


The letter also includes a wish list of Austrian export licences for the past transactions, in order to regularize the past illegal sales as well as to proceed with several new sales to Italy, France and Switzerland.49 Anticipating further deliveries to Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands, the Swiss company requested ‘a generalized export authorization for the entire European Union, Switzerland and the US.’ The company stressed the need for speed, ‘preferably before 10 December 1998, in view of the
entering into force of new Swiss arms legislation on 1 January 1999.’


These cases illustrate why United Nations experts concluded in 1999 that states generally do not keep precise, centralized and accessible records and accounts of existing stocks of small arms and light weapons, including ammunition, deemed surplus to
national requirements, obsolete or unserviceable.50 The lack of careful management of surpluses is yet another attraction to brokers eager to find cheap sources of supply to maximize their profit margins.

[FAL freek]

Well sounds to me like nobody knows. Maybe the UN should include in their report that beauocracy makes things harder to trace. Thanks for the read.

[Mr pogo]

I wonder how much of the stash Dave @ DSA still has left that he bought from the austrians.

[FAL freek]

Originally posted by Mr pogo
I wonder how much of the stash Dave @ DSA still has left that he bought from the austrians.

Unfortunately not enough

[R GIRARD]

2 of the matching parts kits are sitting in a box in my gun room waiting on funds for receivers. I know my neighbor has at least 3 and my friend has one, all from DSA.

[arkie]

Originally posted by R GIRARD
2 of the matching parts kits are sitting in a box in my gun room waiting on funds for receivers. I know my neighbor has at least 3 and my friend has one, all from DSA.

Now you have let the cat out of the bag - the UN Troops will come to your house first when they confiscate these "illegal exported weapons"

[STGThndr]

The Blue Helmets are coming? Heheheh. Thats why we have weapons in the first place. My advice to Americans- dont stand too close to a Blue Helmet, my FAL isnt as accurate as my M1A.

[FAL freek]

Originally posted by R GIRARD
2 of the matching parts kits are sitting in a box in my gun room waiting on funds for receivers. I know my neighbor has at least 3 and my friend has one, all from DSA.

Sounds like hoarding to me somebody needs to sell a coupe kits. Pleeze?

[Azrial]

I feel so bad about this I am thinking of turning in my two kits! I mean if the UN wants this, it must be for our own good, right?