Two north-east men are blaming each other for storing a cache of “homemade guns” at a farm in Aberdeenshire.
Ian Robertson and Raymond Panton are on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of possessing improvised shotguns and ammunition at a rural property just outside New Deer.
It is alleged the men had the makeshift weapons “as protection” after two masked men allegedly raided their home with offensive weapons before stealing a hoard of cannabis plants.
Robertson, 40, and Panton, 54, deny all the charges against them.
Both men have launched a special defence of incrimination in relation to one charge.
They claim two others were responsible for producing cannabis, a class B drug, at Parkhill Stores, Greens, New Deer, where they lived at the time.
The pair both deny being in possession of illegal weapons. Panton has also denied obstructing officers who were protecting a crime scene and acting in a threatening and abusive manner by threatening to shoot police.
Yesterday the jury of eight men and seven women were shown the police interviews of both men. They were questioned by Detective Sergeant George Nixon who was giving evidence on the second day of the trial yesterday.
The court heard Panton had initially called the police to report Robertson for illegally owning a firearm.
He told officers that he knew nothing about the homemade gun and was insistent there was only one.
However Robertson, now of Stevensburn Croft, New Deer, Turriff, told officers immediately that there were two improvised shotguns and that Panton owned both.
Robertson said firearms gave him the “heebie jeebies” and would not be something he would voluntarily involve himself with.
The court heard that police had to ask Panton six times if he knew of another gun before he admitted it could be in the house and gave them three possible locations it could be hidden.
Officers later found the homemade gun within a chest of drawers located outside his locked office.
The trial, before Lord Bannatyne, continues.
