Heavy metal - A new phase of arms trafficking in Ukraine
Heavy metal - A new phase of arms trafficking in Ukraine
Recent evidence shows early signs that organized arms trafficking is on the rise in Ukraine, marking a potential change from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC)’s latest report on the topic. Published in June 2024 and covering arms trafficking in 2023, the report focused on the proliferation of Russian ‘trophy’ weapons collected from the battlefield, mainly small arms and grenades that were sold in an ad hoc and organic manner without centralized criminal control.
But in June 2024, much heavier weapons were seized by Ukrainian law enforcement, including an anti-aircraft gun, a US machine gun and a high-end US automatic rifle carried exclusively by special forces. Significantly, it wasn’t civilians who were collecting discarded weapons and trying to sell them, but two active military personnel, neither of whom had a criminal record, according to a police report seen by the GI-TOC. (Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), Genf, 23.09.2024)
https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/a-new-phase-of-arms-trafficking-in-ukraine/