Gardaí (Police) in Finglas, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin, discovered a small group of people in possession of narcotics, guns, and a pet monkey.  If the monkey was trained as a look-out, he failed.  Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) reported on the evidence from the operation that involved 50 officers in an effort to target organized crime in the area. The following photos and screen captures are from RTÉ’s story and video. 

RTÉ’s photo showing the displayed evidence.

The drugs displayed on the table were reportedly €100,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis. The eclectic array of firearms, while small, is an impressive throwback to the Cold War era. Some will cringe to notice a Colt Python given their high collector value in the US.

Colt Python .357 Magnum. It appears as though there’s some rust near the muzzle.

The CZ Skorpian vz 61 also catches the eye.  It appears as if there are two magazines for it in the zoomed out photo of the table.

CZ Skorpion vz. 61.

Seeing the Polish made FB PM-63 RAK made me do a double take as I’d only read about them in books.  It’s chambered in 9×18 Makarov, which the monkey loving group appeared to have a couple handfuls of ammunition for. There was no word on if the weapons were later function tested.  A policeman was interviewed at the end of the article and he indicted that the “K” district has had some serious problems of late and in his estimation, just taking these weapons has saved lives. Forensic tests at the lab were pending at the time of the news story.

FB PM-63

The gang also seemed to have a load of shotgun shells with a trap/skeet bag, without any mention of a shotgun.  The rest of the ammunition seemed to have been a mix of various cartridges that they may, or may not have had firearms from which to fire them.  In the picture below, I think I’m seeing some .38 Spc, which would fill the Python, but then it also looks like some .44 Magnum thrown in as well.  I think there’s also a mix of 9mm, 9×18 Mak and perhaps even some .380 Auto.  Can you identify any of the cartridges?  The mix of .22 LR can aid in size comparison.

At the time of the raid, the monkey was said to have been in a cage.  If I had to guess, I’d say the gang let the monkey “sort” the ammunition by the look of the photo above.  The monkey is now being taken care of by the Dublin Zoo.  The Irish Times identified the monkey as a Marmoset Monkey and is valued at €2000.

What do you think about firearms discovered in the raid? Is this common fare for criminals in Europe, or is this a higher level of sophistication?