I sometimes wonder why German gun companies can be bothered staying in business. Hot on the heels of a raid at SIG Sauer, DW.de reports that Walther may be under investigation for illegal arms exports to Colombia, something the company denies ever doing.

So how has the Walther P99 come to Colombia? “We can’t answer that,” Manfred Wörz, the managing director of the Carl Walther company, told DW, adding that the company had not delivered any weapons, or technology, to Colombia. “We cannot explain how the weapon could have arrived on the Colombian market,” he said.

Jürgen Grässlin said he doubted that statement. He’s part of the Outcry Campaign, which works to stop the arms trade, and said he has filed charges with the prosecutors’ office in the southern German city of Ulm accusing the Walther company of suspected illegal arms deals and illegal licensing practices.

“The state company Indumil manufacturers P99 pistols at its factory in Cordova in Colombia,” he told DW. “There may have also been direct exports. We saw pistols stamped ‘Made in Germany,'”

It is far more likely the gun was illegally transported to Columbia than Walther executives risked everything to export a few pistols to Columbia, especially when they have licensed the design to a local manufacturer.

Thanks to Albi for the tip.