No, but I had relatives who were cops. Confiscated firearms were destroyed or disappeared. They were not returned. Nobody cared.
Fortunately not all cops are as corrupt as your friends. Around 1982 I had a Colt Trooper .22 LR revolver stolen from my vehicle. I reported it to the Norfolk, VA. PD.
Around 5 years later, I got a call from my old supervisor in Norfolk. The cops had recovered my revolver and they needed me to call them to get it back.
I went to the Garden City, KS PD and an officer phoned Norfolk PD and within a few days I had my revolver back, still like new.
I bet the rightful owners cared. I detest corruption, whatever the form.
These "disappeared" right into the possesion of the cop who "legally confiscated" them.
That's simple theft, and that cop needs to do hard time.
I guess you're going to like our coming police state. After all, these guns were confiscated for the common good, right? Take them out of criminal hands and turn them over to criminal cops.
I know about cops keeping guns confiscated as evidence. A friend used one of my revolvers to lose a solo game of Russian roulette in my apartment, and the friendly officers took the gun for testing. I waited a bit, and then started to track it down. I got the usual run-around, but persisted until I was assured it was in the police station evidence locker, and I could pick it up.
I went there with the proper paperwork, and watched an officer empty the very large bin of confiscated handguns, but my .357 was not there. I made it clear to the officer that I would not let this matter drop, and he told me to come back tomorrow and try again.
I guess he called the thief and told him to bring that gun back, because, lo and behold, the very next day that gun was in the middle of the same bin I saw emptied the day before.
That gun is here in my hand now, but it wouldn't be if I hadn't played hardball with crooked cops.