A Swiss company imported semi-finished pistols from northern Italy under licence, machined and assembled them in Switzerland and stored them for export. In March 1989, the person responsible and a buyer staged a break-in. They claimed to the insurer and authorities that 1’020 pistols with a replacement value of just under 120’000 Swiss francs had been stolen. In fact, they had been sold to the accomplice, although the seller knew he held neither the required purchase nor export licence. On 5 April 1989, 742 pistols were seized in a Swiss air-raid shelter. The Biel criminal court sentenced the person responsible to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended, for offences including aiding illegal export, making a false report to the war materiel administration and other offences. On 5 November 1991, the Federal Supreme Court upheld confiscation of the 742 seized pistols. The recipient countries and the whereabouts of the remaining weapons are not named in the published decision.