Germany: 3 charged for illegally making, selling firearms

BERLIN – Prosecutors have filed charges against three German men accused of involvement in illegally making and selling firearms that were sold on Darknet sites.

Stuttgart prosecutors said Tuesday the three face charges of violating weapons and export laws. One is accused of converting dummy pistols into live firearms and offering them for sale on the Darknet, an area of cyberspace invisible on the open Internet.

Prosecutors say two of the suspects agreed in September also to sell AK-47 and Zastava M70 assault rifles. The main suspect allegedly acquired four rifles, selling them on the Darknet and sending them to a nonexistent Paris address.

Prosecutors say it's unclear whether the weapons ever left Germany and are stressing that there's no indication they were used in November's Paris attacks.