Canadian recreational hunter arrested with forged documents

He had come to Switzerland for recreational hunting. Naturally, he brought his own rifle along. On Thursday (30 November), however, the Canadian was in for a nasty surprise on his way back from Lenzerheide to Montreal, when he passed through Erdinger Moos. Federal police officers confiscated his small-calibre rifle — he had no permit to carry the weapon in Germany. In addition, the officers filed a report against the man on suspicion of document forgery, as he had presented them with an obviously forged transport permit for Germany during the check.

Check at Munich Airport

Travellers — whether recreational hunters, sport shooters, or other firearms carriers — must first declare their weapons when travelling by air and second store them securely in locked checked baggage. As soon as the weapon owner approaches the airline's check-in desk, airline staff notify the federal police. Officers then check the traveller's documents and those of the weapon on the spot. They also ensure that the weapon and ammunition are packed in accordance with regulations.

This also happened on Thursday afternoon. A federal police patrol routinely checked the documents of a traveler in the check-in area of Terminal 2 who wanted to check in a rifle along with ammunition for his flight to Montreal. However, the federal police officers then discovered that the 49-year-old Canadian could not produce a valid permit to carry his hunting weapon. He had presented the officers with a copy of such a permit, but the federal police officers quickly determined that something appeared to be wrong with this document, supposedly issued by the district office in Erding, and promptly called Erding. There, the officers were reportedly told that no such document had been issued by the Erding district office. The police officers therefore took the Canadian, along with his weapon and ammunition, to the station.

Confession and two charges

There, confronted with the accusations of document forgery, the North American immediately admitted everything, apologized for his misconduct, and was willing to accept a penalty on the spot. He said he had been hunting in Switzerland on several occasions and had traveled through Munich each time. On previous trips, he had applied for and received a transport permit from the Erding district office every time. This time, the trip had apparently been planned too last-minute for such an application; one thing led to another, and as a result the weapon carrier now faces two charges: one for document forgery and a second for violating the German Weapons Act.

His remorse did not, however, spare the hunting enthusiast from having to deposit 3’000 euros with the federal police to secure the criminal proceedings, nor from losing his hunting rifle. The federal police officers were required to confiscate it from him.