MUNICH: A Montenegrin man was handed a four-year jail sentence in Germany Thursday for heading to Paris with assault rifles and explosives hidden in his car shortly before the November attacks.
The 51-year-old was arrested during a routine check on a Bavarian motorway on November 5, just over a week before 130 people were killed in a coordinated suicide bomb and gun assault in the French capital.
Police discovered a cache of weapons in his car, including eight Kalashnikovs, handguns, two hand grenades and 200 grammes (nearly half a pound) of TNT explosives.
The accused, Vlatko Vucelic, told the superior regional court in Munich at the start of his trial this month that he was aware the weapons were in the car but he denied any knowledge of an attack being planned.
The court on Thursday convicted the defendant, who had no previous criminal record, of unlawful possession and transportation of assault weapons.
But it said in a statement that it "had not been proved that he was to bring the weapons to Paris knowingly for a planned attack".
The court was unable to determine who had ordered the arms shipment, paying the defendant 2,000 euros ($2,240) for the transport.
Prosecutors had argued he was fully aware the weapons were to be used for a planned terror attack.
The sentence was the result of a plea bargain based on a full confession.
The deadly November onslaught in Paris was claimed by the Islamic State group.