MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Moscow said they had detained a World War II veteran for trying to sell a pistol made over 60 years ago to make up for the shortfall in his pension.
The 79-year-old "arms dealer" was a decorated former officer with the wartime Soviet secret service and had been asking 10,000 rubles ($370) for a 1943 Tokarev TT pistol in a leather holster and with 16 cartridges, which experts said was in working order.
"The man said he had retired in the early 1970s as a colonel and had since lived in Moscow with his wife, who suffers from a serious eye disorder," the police press service said.
Police opened a criminal case against the man, accusing him of illegally carrying and selling arms, but released him under a recognizance not to leave the city due to his advanced age.
