Driver arrested in Italy after missiles found in van

A driver was arrested in Italy after missiles were found in his van. A routine check at the port of Bari revealed that he was illegally transporting military weapons and the driver was arrested.

According to Euronews, military weapons, including three missiles, were found in the van of a 46-year-old French citizen. Italian law enforcement officers stopped the van with French license plates, which had disembarked from the Superfast II ship from Patras, Greece.

Inside the van, investigators found five containers intended for the transport of anti-tank weapon systems. Inside were the guidance system and missiles, including three Acheron missiles. According to the technical assessment and the information collected, they were classified as military weapons. As a result, the judge of the Bari court ordered Normand to be detained pending the investigation.

**Details of the investigation**

During the investigation, the driver presented documents for three international consignment notes. However, according to the investigation, these documents were too abstract to explain the true nature of the cargo.

As a result of further investigations, the five containers were identified. One of them was empty. The second contained a simple training missile without an engine and explosives. Each of the remaining three containers contained one Acheron missile.

The task of determining the true condition of the three missiles was entrusted to experts from the Italian army. During the investigation, the color of the containers attracted special attention. The containers had blue stripes. According to NATO standards, this image indicates a training device without explosives. However, according to the military, these stripes were not the original markings applied at the factory, but ordinary adhesive tape that could easily be removed. After removing the blue tape, a yellow and black marking was visible under it. This is a marking of a combat munition with high explosive and armor-piercing power.

Normand told authorities that he was a driver transporting equipment to Greece on behalf of his defense company MBDA. He said he was supposed to deliver the cargo to a company called Altus LSA for repair work.

His lawyers provided commercial and shipping documents, as well as a permit issued by the French Ministry of Defense to MBDA France in 2025 for military equipment. However, the judge said further investigation was needed. He noted that the documents presented had different stamps and discrepancies in dates.

The judge said that the permits required by Italian law for the transport of military equipment were not presented to the port authorities or to the judicial authorities.

Normand said he worked as a contractor for a French company specializing in the transport of military cargo. However, investigators found that the shipping company he worked for, registered in his wife’s name, did not specialize in this type of cargo. The investigation will now need to determine where the missiles came from, where they are going, and whether their transportation was officially authorized.