By Euronews
Published on
A routine check at the port of Bari turned into an investigation into a shipment of high-powered military equipment.
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Italian law enforcement officers stopped a 46-year-old French citizen, named as Regis Claude Albert Normand, after he disembarked from the Superfast II vessel after it arrived from Patras.
In his van, which had French number plates, investigators found five transport containers designed to carry anti-tank weapons systems.
Inside were launch tubes and missiles, including three Akeron missiles, which, according to a technical assessment and based on information gathered so far, are to be classified as weapons of war.
The case is detailed in an order issued by judge Valeria Isabella Valenzi of the Bari court, who ordered that Normand be held in pre-trial detention.
The investigation
During the inspection, the driver produced three international consignment notes.
However, according to the findings, these documents were too vague to clarify the nature of the load.
Further checks led to the discovery of the five containers. One was empty; a second contained an inert training missile with no guidance system, propulsion or warhead. The remaining three each contained an Akeron missile.
Experts from the Italian army were tasked with determining the nature of the three missiles.
One detail that came under scrutiny during the investigation was the colour of the tubes. The containers had blue bands, which, under NATO standards, indicate training equipment with no explosive components.
According to the military, however, those bands did not appear to be part of the original markings and were said to be ordinary adhesive tape that could be easily removed.
Once the blue tape was removed, a yellow-and-black colouring scheme could reportedly be seen, indicating high-explosive ammunition designed to have a penetrating effect.
Repairs in Greece
Normand told authorities that he was a driver tasked with transporting the equipment to Greece on behalf of the defence firm MBDA. He said he had been due to deliver it to a company called Altus LSA for repair work.
His defence team submitted commercial and travel documentation, as well as an authorisation issued in 2025 by the French Ministry of Defence to MBDA France for activities involving war equipment.
The judge nevertheless said further investigation was necessary, pointing to anomalies in the provided paperwork, including different stamps and discrepancies in the dates.
According to the judge, the permits required under Italian law to transport military equipment had not been produced either during the check at the port or before the judicial authorities.
Normand said he was working as a subcontractor for a French company that also specialises in transporting military goods.
However, according to investigators, the haulage company he works for, which is registered under his wife’s name, does not appear to specialise in this type of transport.
The investigation will now need to establish where the missiles came from, where they were headed, and whether their transportation was authorised.