FSB Arrested a 68-Year-Old Firearm Buyer

According to REN.tv, law enforcement in Moscow raided the home of a suspected weapons buyer with a connection to the darknet. While yet to be reported by Russian authorities, the news outlet spoke with a source who claimed the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) found the man by reading his “contacts on the darknet.” The suspect is 68-years-old.

The FSB found several submachine guns located within the man’s house. Ren.tv’s source revealed that the firearms were “Kedr-2 Scorpio” submachine guns. (Technically translated Ceder-2 Scorpio/n.) This may be a piece of information only the official announcement can clarify; a “Kedr-2 Scorpio” is an absolutely fantastic smorgasbord of at least two weapons, possibly three. The source could be referring to such a combination.

The Kedr PP-91 is a Russian submachine gun that has been in use since the 1990s. Older, outdated models have been sold on the internet and reportedly in real life, but usually in the form of the now-outdated Klin PP-9. Russian authorities found they needed a superior firearm to the Kedr. And in 1994, a revised version of the gun arrived. However, now, Russian law enforcement stuck with the Kedr model for safety reasons. And as a result, only the Kedr was manufactured for LE. The Klin models are a dying breed. But the “Klin 1” and “Klin 2” exist—in an unofficial name alone, if nothing else—and possibly connects to Kedr-2.

Any time spent on certain Russian forums will reveal that many sales come from recommissioned stage pistols. Guns that fell out of production seem to be a successfully sold item. Either the buyer buys parts for the “project” or the vendor builds the gun and then lists it. We have an article discussing one pistol vendor who explained his trade—rebuilding decommissioned pistols and listing them for sale on the darknet.

The “Scorpio” possibly came from the name of a frequently sold “criminal” pistol. (By no means entirely a criminal’s gun; the criminal use is eclipsed by the military and law enforcement use of the pistol.) The source could have referred to the Scorpion SA models. They, like the Klin, have not been produced in years. They are produced in Serbia to some extent though.

In the days just prior to the FSB’s raids on the 68-year-old, the Moscow Criminal Investigations Department raided a 36-year-old in Ryazan. Authorities had conducted a survey of the man’s home when they found a massive cache of weapons and ammunition.

This included:

“Two revolvers, converted from [inert signal or flare guns] to shooting with live ammunition; five-shot rifle TOZ-17; 180 rounds of ammunition of various calibers; two 30 mm projectiles, which contained high-explosive-tracer ammunition. Also, investigators found a training grenade launcher RPG-26. with projectiles; and, finally, machine gun belts.”

According to the source, the gun from the earlier raid in Ryazan and the 68-year-old’s gun matched. Not the gun models but the conversion and recommissioning of the weapons—all of which had to be done by hand.

No further details had been revealed at this time.