A routine inspection by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza at the port of Bari led to the seizure of three Akeron anti-tank missiles and the arrest of a 46-year-old French citizen, Regis Claude Albert Normand, shortly after he disembarked from the Superfast II ferry from Patras, Greece.
The case emerged from an order by Valeria Isabella Valenzi, a judge at the Bari court, placing Normand in pretrial detention in prison. During a search of the French-registered van he was driving, officers found five containers used to transport anti-tank weapons systems.
Further checks found that one container was empty, while a second contained an inert training missile without a guidance system, propulsion or warhead. The other three contained Akeron missiles.
Technical examinations by Italian army personnel proved decisive. Initially, the missiles displayed blue bands, a marking normally used under NATO standards to identify training equipment without explosive charges. However, court documents reportedly said the bands had been made with easily removable adhesive tape and were not part of the original markings.
After the blue covering was removed, the missiles reportedly showed the yellow-and-black coloring typically associated with high-explosive, armor-piercing ammunition. As a result, the army classified the three missiles as weapons of war, according to the investigation.
Normand told investigators that he was a driver hired to transport the equipment on behalf of MBDA France, a European defense company specializing in missile systems. He said the material was destined for Greece, where it was to be delivered to Altus LSA for repair and maintenance.
The defense presented commercial documents, travel records and an authorization issued by the French Defense Ministry to MBDA France in 2025 for activities involving military equipment. The judge, however, said further investigation was necessary, citing alleged inconsistencies in the documents, including differences in stamps and discrepancies in the dates recorded.
Via RAI News
