Man tries to mail gun parts hidden in books

Seattle police are looking for a man who attempted to mail to Paris a box full of books packed with handgun parts and ammunition.

An alert clerk at a Wallingford UPS Store was preparing to ship the plastic-wrapped books on Jan. 31 when she noticed that one of the hardbacks rattled, according to police reports. The woman shook the book and spotted a gun part slipping through the pages.

The clerk phoned police Monday, after attempting to contact the sender. Searching the books, officers found a disassembled Beretta handgun, three loaded magazines and two boxes of 9mm ammunition hidden in hollowed copies of Richard Tarnas' "Cosmos and Psyche," Isaac Asimov's "Chronology of the World" and a communications text.

Before paying the $236 bill with cash, the man told the clerk he hoped UPS "handled the items more carefully than the post office," according to reports.

The clerk told police the elderly man had several noticeable liver spots on his face and spoke with a slight French accent. No arrests were made immediately after the incident.