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BERLIN (AP) — Berlin police say they deployed a tactical response unit to a refugee shelter after spotting a man with an automatic rifle — only to find it was a replica.
Police spokeswoman Patricia Braemer said Thursday that an off-duty officer walking past the building saw the man through a window posing for photos with the “dangerous looking” weapon and alerted colleagues.
About 30 officers, including a specialist firearms team, stormed the man’s room Wednesday and discovered two men with an airsoft rifle and appropriate ammunition.
Braemer said the rifle was “almost impossible to discern” from a real firearm and lacked a marking required by law. The men, 27 and 29, are being investigated on suspicion of breaking firearms laws.
It is illegal in Germany to display replica firearms in public view.
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