HERALD
LARGEST EVENING CIRCULATION IN AMERICA
VOL. XCV MON., MARCH 29, 1966. NO. 3
Arms Plant: Costa Rica Denies Order
Ambassador Gonzalo Facio denied in Washington today that Costa Rica has ordered 500 automatic weapons from the Erquilaga Arms Co. in the City of Industry.
State officials seized 373 machine type guns and other weapons there Friday night.
"The government of Costa Rica asserts emphatically that it has not ordered such weapons, and the published report is untrue," Facio said.
"If at any time the government of Costa Rica should need to purchase weapons, it would do so only through official U.S. Government channels."
An executive of the arms company had been quoted as saying: "We have a purchase order from the Costa Rica government for 500 automatic machine pistols which we are filling."
Owners of the plant had said they had a Federal license to make machineguns for foes of Cuba's Fidel Castro in Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, State Atty Gen. Thomas C. Lynch planned to confer with the district attorney's office on possible prosecution of owners of the gun factory. Lynch said he believed some of the weapons were intended for "private armies" established by right-wing extremist groups.
The attorney general said possession of automatic weapons is illegal under California law. Most of the weapons seized in the raid were .30 caliber and combined characteristics of the "grease gun" and the Ben gun.
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