Kot kaže, je Avstrija dobrih 20 let po Noricumu dobila naslednjo orožarsko afero. Izvoz puške (za domnevni boj proti trgovcem z mamili), katere izstrelek lahko na kilometer razdelje prebije palec debelo jekleno ploščo.

If the reports are true, it is highly likely that the hoard of HS .50 rifles US authorities found came from a shipment that left Austria in late 2004. Eight hundred of the rifles were shipped to Iran with the express approval of the government of then Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Steyr-Mannlicher, the manufacturer of the weapons, had filed a request with the Austrian interior ministry for approval to export the weapons a year earlier. Officially the Austrian company’s buyer was Iran’s federal police force, specifically a special anti-drug unit. (…) Concerned that these dangerous weapons could fall into the hands of insurgents and terrorists, the governments in London and Washington both tried to put a stop to the controversial sale, but were unsuccessful. Steyr-Mannlicher went through with the deal anyway. The reaction came swiftly. In late 2005 the US government angrily imposed an embargo on the Austrian weapons manufacturer. Since then Steyr-Mannlicher, together with manufacturers from India and China, has been excluded from lucrative US government contracts.

Življenje zna poskrbeti za ironične variacije na temo: med leta 1985 odkrito nezakonito prodajo so šli topovi za Irak in (kot je bilo ugotovljeno tri leta kasneje) tudi za Iran (ki sta bila v medsebojni vojni), zdaj pa so uradno Iranu prodane ostrostrelske puške domnevno končale v Iraku (ki je v državljanski vojni).

Avstrijci pa so tudi tokrat znali poskrbeti za nedolgočasne zagovore.

Franz Holzschuh, Steyr’s chief executive, said the company had not been contacted by anyone officially to verify the serial numbers on the rifles. He said it was possibile that the weapons were copies.

Tokratna orožarska afera najbrž ne bo imela tako hudih notranjepolitičnih posledic, kakor jih je imela prodaja topov velikega dosega (iz proizvodnje hčerke državnega koncerna Voest) vojskujočima se stranema v začetku osemdesetih let. Ker pa so politične preiskave orožarskih poslov običajno opravilo, ki se mu opozicija posveti s posebno ljubeznijo in vztrajnostjo, presenečenja niso izključena.

PS: Med brskanjem po spletu sem na žalost izvedel (na spletni strani profil.at), da je nedavno umrl Alfred Worm, legendarni avstrijski raziskovalni novinar. Med drugim je odkril tudi Noricumove nezakonite posle.

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