The 78-year-old had tank, a torpedo and an anti-aircraft gun

House in Kiel had previously been searched for stolen Nazi art

German police have found an arsenal of World War II-era weaponry while searching the house of an elderly man in the outskirts of Kiel.

The pensioner, in his 70s, had been keeping a number of guns and tanks in his home, including a 45-ton Panther battle-tank, a torpedo and a 3.5in anti-aircraft gun from the war.

Police had been alerted to the threat by Berlin prosecutors who had searched the home in Heikendorf for stolen Nazi art a few weeks earlier.

Fire away: The 1943 'Panther' battle tank was among the World War II-era weapons found in the home of a pensioner in Kiel, Germany

Big find: Authorities seized the 45-ton Panther tank, a flak canon and multiple other World War II-era military weapons

It took police and the German army several hours to remove the tank from the man's storage unit, with a large crowd gathering to watch it's slow process.

Kiel prosecutor Birgit Hess said the collector is being investigated for possibly violating German weapons laws.

However, the pensioner's attorney Peter Gramsch told a local news agency that all the items had been properly demilitarized and registered.

The town mayor has come out in defence of the pensioner, saying he had even been seen driving the tank around in public.

'He was chugging around in that thing during the snow catastrophe in 1978,' Alexander Orth said according to The Local.

'Some people like steam trains, others like tanks,' he pointed out.

The German army has sent a modern recovery tank to remove the Panther, but have yet to succeed, the newspaper reports.

Rallying: The mayor of Heikendorf has come out in defence of the pensioner, saying he had even been seen driving the tank around in public