A Texas couple was shocked to find military assault weapons in an order they placed through an online military surplus store.
ABC13 Houston reported that the couple called the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco (ATF) after finding fully automatic M16s in gun storage cases that they ordered through the government surplus store.
The couple says they thought they were buying 100 empty gun storage cases. They called authorities after they found the assault weapons that they say they did not want or order.
The ATF said they're working with the FBI to investigate, and did not immediately detail how many misplaced military weapons they recovered.
Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for a storage unit containing gun storage boxes, as part of their investigation.
"It's almost surreal to have something like that happen nowadays. It's incredible it's surreal, it's unbelievable to think military-grade weapons would be shipped in containers would be shipped across state lines. It's pretty shocking," said Greg Fremin, a retired Houston police captain, and former U.S. Marine.
"For these boxes to have M16s in them and be shipped to a public destination, not only is it shocking, it's a federal crime," Fremin said.
The military should track all of its weapons so that they aren't misplaced.
The military surplus website that the couple ordered from says they've pulled other gun cases offline after they were notified. The Department of Defense has also reportedly been notified.
The couple says they bought the gun cases online to resell them on eBay and says they never wanted the guns and want them gone.