Moscow, Jan 13: A man in Russia was caught by surprise when the wooden crates he bought as firewood contained at least 79 AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition.

The man alerted the police in Udmurtia region of the western Urals after he found "an object similar to a Kalashnikov assault rifle" in one of the wooden cases, police said.

Another 78 rifles and ammunition were later found in the crates which the man bought from a truck driver who was supposed to deliver the rifles to a military base to be destroyed.

"The weapons arrived at the Izhevsky arms plant for destruction from arms depots of the defence ministry. The driver was taking the crates to a firing range but sold them off on the way," police said.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote in Twitter that he would fly to the region to organise a meeting on firearms production and storage.

"A retiree found dozens of Kalashnikov assault rifles... Well! I'll just have to hold a production meeting on firearms on January 24 at Izhmash," Rogozin wrote.

In June last year, an arms depot caught fire in Udmurtia after a soldier dropped an artillery round. At least 95 people were injured.