Häme police collect nearly 500 weapons in week-long drive

Police collected nearly 500 weapons in a week-long drive in the Finnish regions of Kanta-Häme and Päijät-Häme, Yle reports. About 300 of the weapons were unlicensed.

The collection, held in October with the Finnish Defence Forces, allowed people to hand in unlicensed weapons, ammunition and explosives without facing consequences.

Most of the weapons were old hunting rifles and shotguns. The haul also included several submachine guns and machine guns, among them a Suomi submachine gun and a machine gun from a Second World War-era aircraft.

Police also received a few dozen handguns, most of them old small pistols known as “pig-slaughter guns”. Collection patrols gathered a substantial quantity of ammunition, pyrotechnics and fireworks, as well as just under 29 kilograms of explosives.

Defence Forces patrols collected reported military explosives. During assignments involving explosives, collection patrols were also handed dozens of different dangerous objects and supplies. In a similar collection in 2022, Häme police received nearly 400 weapons.