LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- A rare and ornate AK-47 that may have belonged to Saddam Hussein was handed over to police in Lakewood, and Army investigators are trying to figure out why.

The rifle is ornate, symbolic and described by police as a fully automatic AK-47.

The soldier who found it at Fort Lewis claimed to have tried to turn it over to authorities at the base, but they wouldn't take it. The soldier then brought it to Lakewood police.

"It was a chrome-plated AK-47 with a white covering on the butt and the grip that appeared to be pearl handled. And then right where the sights were when you were looking at the sights was a photograph of Saddam Hussein looking back at you," said Lt. Heidi Hoffman of the Lakewood Police Department.

According to a report by the Times of London published in December, 2005, these "Weapons plated with gold or chrome are highly prized in the Middle East."

Rifles like the one turned over to police were often personally handed out by Saddam to high ranking Ba'ath party members and dignitaries.

After the fall of Saddam, they became valuable souvenirs and coalition troops and high ranking visitors would often pose for pictures holding the weapons.

Police say the rifle was found in a storage box at Fort Lewis in early December by a soldier who took it to Lakewood police headquarters.

"So the soldier brought it into us, and was turning it in to us, (was) asking for it to be destroyed," said Hoffman.

Joe Piek from the Fort Lewis Public Affairs Office told KIRO 7 the AK-47 came to the U.S. legally and had been "demilitarized" so it could no longer fire.

Piek said it was brought back as a museum piece by a unit on base and that he doesn't know how the weapon fell into the hands of a soldier who then took it to police.

"Why he was bringing it to us, I don't know. I don't know if he was doing that of his own accord or if he was told to do that," Hoffman said.