World War Z and transportation of arms……

Two years back,  Buadors a city in Budapest was in news because of the action of the Police.  Now Hungary Police force makes news again.  Marine insurance is coverage of goods in transit from one place to another – but the voyage has to be legal…  there are goods that are being transported from one country to another, they are properly declared and not an illegal movement, there is insurable interest but could there be problems still ??    There are opportunities for Insurers in tinseldom – in big budget movies, especially when equipments are moved from one place to another – to outdoor locations in various countries.  Whilst moving of equipments of high value and those articles required for the shoot are common, something uncommon was found though it pertains literally to ‘shoot’ only !

Brad Pitt is a famous actor who produces film also.  This attractive actor in involved in big budgetted ( $125 million) film titled “World War Z”.  The movie is based on a  post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks, directed by Marc Forster and stars Brad Pitt, with a script written by J. Michael Straczynski and Matthew Michael Carnahan. The film is scheduled to be released on December 21, 2012.

Photo from daily mail.co.uk

Budapest, is the capital of Hungary and attracts regular flow of tourists.  After unification in Nov 1873, Budapest occupies both banks of river Danube.   Law enforcement in Hungary is split among the Police and Border Guards, and the Customs and Excise Authority.  Budapest became the scene of action for the Brad Pitt starrer which reportedly is over the budget and running late.  In a scoop nearly  100 guns were discovered by anti-terrorism police in Hungary that had been intended for use in the movie World War Z.  importation to any country is based on documents.  Paperwork stated that the guns were inactive but tests revealed they were capable of firing live ammunition.  Quoting  Hungary's anti-terrorism unit,  it was reported that weapons were  confiscated at an airport.  The guns had been transported in a private plane and had been wrapped in a parcel from a Company to an individual. 

Trafficking of arms and ammunition is highly legal – but perhaps not when they are stage guns.  Now with the finding that they were capable of firing, an investigation has been initiated on how fire arms were allowed to be imported. One should never look into antecedents or know too much of details – apparently American scenes were shot in Glasgow.  Those associated with shipping claimed that the fire arms had been converted restricting their use to blank ammunition and were completely harmless.   It was also claimed that they had a police permit to bring those guns and that they had contracted arms experts to establish whether the guns complied with Hungarian laws.  But the guns were seized before experts could inspect them.

It is reported that an investigation by the  National Bureau for Investigation  for abuse of arms and ammunition was on and complete details were not made available.  The weapons included hand guns, machine guns, high-precision sniper rifles, hand grenades and a large quantity of high-caliber ammunition, according to photos and a video released by the Anti-Terrorism center.  It is learnt that film shooting  in Budapest commenced on the evening of Ocotober 10, 2011.  That morning, the Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Unit raided the warehouse where guns had been delivered for use as filming props.   The 85 assault rifles, sniper rifles, and handguns had been flown into Budapest overnight on a private aircraft, but the film's producers had failed to clear the delivery with Hungarian authorities, and while the import documentation indicated that the weapons had been disabled, all were found to be fully functional

In October 2009, the 15 strong squad of Buadors police force quit – not out of any disgruntlement but opulence.  The Force won more than £ 10 million in a lottery and decided to resign immediately.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar