PRAGUE — Twelve illegal weapons were found at the Palestinian embassy complex where a possible booby-trapped safe killed the ambassador to the Czech Republic, police said Sunday.
The deputy Palestinian foreign minister said the weapons were legal.
Palestinian Ambassador Jamel al-Jamal, 56, died Wednesday after an embassy safe exploded — with speculation that the old safe possibly contained explosives left there by the Palestinian Liberation Organization during the Cold War. The career diplomat had only started his posting in October.
“These guns have been in the embassy for a long time — going back to the former regime of Czechoslovakia —. . . These guns were either licensed in the embassy or were given as gifts to the ambassador,” Deputy Palestinian Foreign Minister Taysir Jaradat said Sunday.
“They are not in use.”
During the Cold War, the PLO had strong ties with the Soviet Union and eastern bloc countries.
It remains unclear what caused the explosion.