In the first extreme gun-running case of 2019, a 22-year-old Ukrainian man has been detained in Dorohusk, Poland after he attempted to bring a dismantled howitzer artillery piece across the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The arrest took place Friday and an investigation into how the man came to be in possession of such firepower has been launched by the Internal Security Agency under the supervision of the District Prosecutor's Office in Chełm, reports The Polska Times.

The as yet unidentified Ukrainian had documentation with him, but these were insufficient for the type of weaponry he was attempting to transport. The cannon was dismantled and placed in marked crates.

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The howitzer’s range can extend several dozen kilometers in newer models and the self-propelled artillery can be transported via tracked chassis or slung behind heavy vehicles.

In April 2017, two women and two men from Ukraine were arrested at the Polish border for attempting to transport an anti-aircraft gun into Ukraine.

They were caught attempting to cross into Ukraine with a Soviet-era, 30 mm AK-630 artillery system, typically mounted on warships and used against targets such as guided missiles, planes, helicopters and even smaller ground-based vehicles.

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