ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
An 84-year-old German Nazi-era weapons collector will pay a whopping €250,000 fine for possession of illegal weapons, most noticeably a World War II tank, a court in the city of northern Kiel ruled on Tuesday, according to a BBC report.
The man claimed to have bought the Panther tank in the UK as scrap metal, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

An anti-aircraft gun, machine guns, assault rifles and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were also found in a search of his home in 2015.

The 84-year-old's collection was in violation of Germany's War Weapons Control Act, which regulates the manufacture, sale, and transport of weapons of war.

In addition to the fine, a 10-month suspended sentence was also imposed by the German court.

According to the man's lawyer, a museum in the US is currently interested in purchasing the 40-ton Panther tank in his possession, which took 20 soldiers almost nine hours to remove the tank from the basement of his Kiel home.

In the court hearing, the defendant argued the weapons and tank were not operational, and that therefore he did not violate Germany's War Weapons Control Act.

However, the prosecution showed that at least some of the Nazi-era weapons in his possession were still functional.