A few days after my post mentioning the G36 among others being found in Libya, this topic gained widespread attention in German media.
According to this article in German newspaper "Die Zeit" affidavit by a witness, claiming that the weapons are marked with the German coat of arms (the eagle) as well as the mark from the weapon testing center in Ulm, Germany. There every gun has to be test fired and get approved by being marked with a stamp before they get into trading. This is required by federal law and the testing centers are run by the state.
Furthermore the witness claims to have investigated into involvement of the German agency BND into the dealings. However he said he couldnt find prove for this allegations.
Yet in my opinion there must have been involvement by some official authority, since an export of such weapons by H&K alone is not possible to think of. HK is know for acting on the borderline, like this export of G36 into Mexicos troubled areas, but illegal arms trading without government backing would be deadly for the enterprise and therefore unlikely.
Defense minister de Maizière said regarding the question whether Germany has to be troubled about weapon-trading with Libya: "After all what I know: No". This is somehow a evading statement.
I expect media to keep pressure on this subjects, additionally various law suits have been filed, one by HK himself, other by anti-gun-movements.
The guns themselves seem to come from Gaddafis residence in Tripolis, where they have been discovered by the rebels after storming the compound. It remains unclear, whether they were actually in combat.
The weapon seems to be a G36KV, former G36KE, also G36KurzVariante, i.e. short variant, being produced for export.
