POLICE in South Carolina, the U.S., arrested a man who stashed an arsenal of up to 10,000 mostly stolen guns at his home, news reports said Tuesday.

    Brent Nicholson, 51, was detained over the weekend after mountains of rifles and handguns were found stacked at his home and in a nearby storage facility.

    Hundreds more weapons were found at a liquor store Nicholson runs with his father, and at his parents’ home, the Charlotte Observer newspaper reported.

    Police said they will need several days to catalogue the arsenal, which also included crossbows, ammunition and more than 500 chainsaws.

    The Observer wrote that authorities Saturday needed four 12-meter-long tractor-trailer trucks to haul away the contraband weapons, which were taken to an armory near the sheriff’s office to be processed.

    News reports said officials discovered the arsenal over the weekend when sheriff’s deputies went to Nicholson’s home in Pageland, South Carolina to serve a subpoena on an unrelated matter, said local sheriff Jay Brooks.

    On the front lawn of Nicholson’s home, “in plain sight,” police found chainsaws and a welder that had been reported stolen, Brooks said.

    Police obtained a warrant and searched the home, which is when they discovered the surprise weapons cache with “literally thousands of guns,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)