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Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the
illicit trade Illicit trade is the production or distribution of a good or service that is considered illegal by a legislature. It includes trade that is strictly illegal in different jurisdictions, as well as trade that is illegal in some jurisdictions but legal ...
of contraband
small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
and
ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational
criminal organizations Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
. The illegal trade of small arms, unlike other
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
commodities, is more closely associated with exercising power in communities instead of achieving economic gain. Scholars estimate illegal arms transactions amount to over US$1 billion annually. To keep track of imports and exports of several of the most dangerous
armament A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...
categories, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, in 1991, created a Register for Conventional Arms. Participation, however, is not compulsory, and lacks comprehensive data in regions outside of Europe.
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, due to a prevalence of corrupt officials and loosely enforced trade regulations, is a region with extensive illicit arms activity. In a resolution to complement the Register with legally binding obligations, a Firearms Protocol was incorporated into the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, which requires states to improve systems that control trafficked ammunition and firearms. The 1999 Report of the UN Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms provides a more refined and precise definition, which has become internationally accepted. This distinguishes between
small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
(
revolvers A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
and
self-loading pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun (pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actually ...
s,
rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
s and
carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighter ...
s,
submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
s, assault rifles, and
light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...
s), which are weapons designed for personal use, and light weapons (
heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...
s, hand-held under-barrel and mounted
grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke or gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The mos ...
s, portable
anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
s, portable anti-tank guns,
recoilless rifle A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...
s, portable launchers of
anti-aircraft missile Anti-aircraft missiles are guided missiles designed to destroy or damage aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dy ...
systems, and
mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...
of calibres less than 100 mm), which are designed for use by several persons serving as a unit.
Ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
and
explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
s also form an integral part of small arms and light weapons used in conflict.


Impact


Areas

Although arms trafficking is widespread in regions of political turmoil, it is not limited to such areas, and for example, in
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
, an estimated 63 million guns have been trafficked into
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The suppression of gunrunning is one of the areas of interest in the context of
international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
. In the United Nations, there has been widespread support to implement international legislation to prevent arms trafficking, however, it has been difficult to implement, due to many different factors that allow for arms trafficking to occur. In the United States, the term "
Iron Pipeline The Iron Pipeline is the route in the United States used to smuggle weapons from ten states mostly in the Southern United States to Mid-Atlantic states and New England, particularly states with stricter gun laws such as New York and New Jersey. ...
" is sometimes used to describe
Interstate Highway 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
and its connector highways as a corridor for arms trafficking into the New York City Metro Area.


Mexico

During the
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
, gunrunning into
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
reached rampant levels with the majority of the arms being smuggled from the United States. As Mexico manufactured no weapons of its own, acquiring arms and ammunition were one of the main concerns of the various rebels, intent on armed revolution. Under American law at the time, arms smugglers into Mexico could be prosecuted only if one was caught ''in flagrante delicto'' crossing the border as merely buying arms with the intention of gunrunning into Mexico was not a criminal offense. Given the length and often rugged terrain of the American-Mexican border, the undermanned American border service simply could not stop the massive gunrunning into Mexico. In February 1913-February 1914, President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
imposed an arms embargo on both sides of the Mexican civil war, and not until February 1914 was the embargo lifted on arms sales to the Constitutionalist rebels. Despite the arms embargo, there was much gunrunning into Mexico, as one American official complained in 1913: "our border towns are practically their commissary and quartermaster depots". Guns were smuggled into Mexico via barrels, coffins, and false bottoms of automobiles. General Huerta avoided the American arms embargo by buying weapons from Germany.


Africa


Liberia and Sierra Leone conflicts

The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted from 1991–2002, and left 75,000 people dead. Gunrunning played a significant role in this conflict. Weapons of all sorts were shipped to all sides in both
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
, and
Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
from abroad. These included
small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
, such as,
pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
s, assault rifles, grenades, Claymores, knives, machetes, etc. Larger weapons such as missiles, light machine guns, mortars, anti-tank missiles, tanks, and planes were also used. During this time a civil war was occurring in nearby Liberia. The Liberian Civil Wars took place from 1989 through 1997. The war was between the existing government and the National Patriotic Front. Leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, Charles Taylor, helped to create the
Revolutionary United Front The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...
(RUF) in Sierra Leone. Taylor was the recipient of thousands of illegally trafficked arms from eastern Europe (mostly Ukraine). Taylor then sold some of these weapons to the RUF in exchange for diamonds. President of Burkina Faso,
Blaise Compaore Blaise is a personal name (from Greek Βλασιος, the name of Saint Blaise) and a place name. It can refer to: People * Blaise (name), including lists of people with the given name or surname ''Blaise'' Places France * Blaise-sous-Ar ...
, “directly facilitated Liberia’s arms-for-diamonds trade” with Liberia and Sierra Leone. Compaore would give guns to Taylor, who would then sell them to the RUF in exchange for diamonds. These
blood diamond ''Blood Diamond'' is a 2006 American political war action thriller film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds min ...
s would then be sold back to Compaore for more guns. The cyclical exchange allowed Compaore the ability to deny directly sending arms to Sierra Leone. The Liberian government received arms through an elaborate front company in
Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
. The arms were intended to be shipped (legally) from
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
to
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
. However, the arms were diverted to Guinea as a part of “an elaborate bait and switch.” Additionally the British government “encouraged
Sandline International Sandline International was a private military company (PMC) based in London, established in the early 1990s. It was involved in conflicts in Papua New Guinea in 1997 and had a contract with the government under then-Prime Minister Julius Chan, ...
, a private security firm and non state entity, to supply arms and ammunitions to the loyal forces of the exiled government of President Kabbah.” Sandline proceeded 35 tons of arms from Bulgaria, to Kabbah's forces.


The South Sudanese civil war

Ever since the
South Sudanese civil war The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état. ...
began in December 2013, gunrunning into that nation has reached rampant levels. As
South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
has hardly any electricity and no manufacturing, both sides were entirely dependent upon buying arms from abroad to fight their war. President
Salva Kiir Mayardit Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 13 September 1951), also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Governmen ...
used shadowy networks of arms dealers from China, Uganda, Israel, Egypt and Ukraine to arm his forces. As oil companies paid rent for their concessions in South Sudan, the government was able to afford to buy arms on a lavish scale. In June 2014, the government's National Security Service signed a deal worth $264 million US dollars with a Seychelles-based shell company to buy 30 tanks, 50,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 20 million bullets. The owner of the shell company currently remains unknown. In July 2014, the Chinese arms manufacturer
Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (North Industries Corporation), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese state-owned defense ...
delivered a shipment to South Sudan of 95,000 assault rifles and 20 million rounds of ammunition, supplying enough bullets to kill every person in South Sudan twice over. The American arms dealer and private military contractor,
Erik Prince Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is an American businessman, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, and the founder of the private military company Blackwater. He served as Blackwater's CEO until 2009 and as its chairman until its sale to a group ...
, sold to the government for $43 million dollars three Mi-24 attack helicopters and two L-39 jets together with the services of Hungarian mercenary pilots to operate the aircraft. The majority of the arms supplied to South Sudan from Uganda originated from Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, all which are members of the European Union (EU), and were supposed to abide by an EU arms embargo placed on South Sudan in 2011.   Less is known about the very secretive arms dealers supplying the rebel
Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (abbreviated SPLM-IO), also known as the anti-governmental forces (AGF), is a mainly South Sudanese political party and rebel group that split from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 20 ...
(SPLM-IO) led by
Riek Machar Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan. Political life In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...
other than that the majority of the gunrunners appeared to be European. A rare exception was with the Franco-Polish arms dealer
Pierre Dadak Pierre Konrad Dadak (born 1976) is a Franco-Polish fraudster and confirmed arms dealer. He was convicted of fraud in France on 29 October 2010 and in Spain on 25 February 2022. Early life Dadak was born in Paris in 1976 to Polish immigrants. He ho ...
who was arrested on 14 July 2016 at his villa in
Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...
on charges of gunrunning into South Sudan. At his villa, the Spanish
National Police Corps The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police, police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural ...
allege that they found documents showing he was negotiating to sell Machar 40,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 30,000 PKM machine guns and 200,000 boxes of ammunition. The United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan in a 2017 report declared: "Reports from independent sources indicate that the border areas between South Sudan and the Sudan and Uganda remain key entry points for arms, with some unsubstantiated reports of smaller numbers of weapons also crossing into South Sudan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are also persistent reports and public accusations of shipments to forces affiliated with the leadership in Juba from further afield, specifically from Egypt". The same report stated that a Ukrainian Air Force IL-76 transport jet flew in two L-39 jets to Uganda on 27 January 2017 in the full knowledge the L-39 jets were intended to go on to South Sudan, thereby violating the arms embargo Ukraine had placed on arms sales to South Sudan. In 2018, the United Nations Security Council imposed a worldwide arms embargo on South Sudan, but the embargo has been widely ignored where despite a ceasefire signed the same year, both sides have continued to import arms on a massive scale, suggesting that they are preparing for another bout of the civil war.


Why traffickers choose Africa

Kimberly Thachuk and Karen Saunders argue that arms trafficking is no different from any other illegal business in their work ''Under the Radar: Airborne Arms Trafficking Operations in Africa''. Traffickers first need a headquarters, or somewhere to base their operations. A headquarters needs several aspects to make it an ideal place to traffic weapons. First, the headquarters should have appropriate infrastructure. For a weapons trafficking this would include a landing strip for both importation and exportation. Additionally, warehouses are needed to “store product awaiting delivery." Once the product has arrived and been stored it needs to be delivered to the customer, thus, the headquarters should be in somewhat of a central location near each customer. While not the primary reason traffickers choose Africa, it has multitudes of unoccupied land that can be used by traffickers, as is asserted by Thachuk and Saunders. Physical space is important but the rules and regulations of said space are also relevant. Traffickers look for places with corrupt, supply side, officials that can either be bribed, or blackmailed. This allows the trafficker to “circumvent the regulatory and oversight systems” put in place by the government. Furthermore, a “lax financial system” is key so the large amounts of money moved by the trafficker are not seen as suspicious. Thachuk and Saunders finish their argument, a stable, and highly centralized government, is important. They then point out that 10 different African countries have leaders that have been in power for more than 20 years, which they argue meets the criteria a highly centralized and stable government.


Europe

Since 1996, countries throughout Europe have taken notice of arms trafficking. Europe has been an overall large exporter of illicit weapons with the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in the national lead for the most exports. Imports to Europe in from 2004–2013 have decreased by 25%, with the United Kingdom importing the most overall in Europe.Arsovska, Jana. "Introduction: Illicit Firearms Market in Europe and Beyond."''European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research'', vol. 20, no. 3, 2014, pp. 295-305''. ProQuest'', . The firearms that are imported and passed around are commonly
small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
and lighter weapons (
SALW Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) refers in arms control protocols to two main classes of man-portable weapons.https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52142.htm NATO, Small arms and light weapons (SALW) and mine action (MA) * "Small arms", ...
) compared to large machinery, such as
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s and
aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
. The SALW bought in Europe tends to be secondhand weapons that are cheap and regularly available. Gun cultures, such as in Germany, where the "taken-for-granted cultural practice of carrying a handgun," increases illicit SALW because guns are viewed as a way to enhance masculinity and status. In 2000, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) started on regional solutions and security measures to address the firearms trafficking problem.


Global market value

Though one of the least profitable illegal trades, arms trafficking made an estimated $1.7-3.5 billion in 2014, making it the 9th largest criminal market, which was valued at $1.6-2.2 trillion. The
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...
is one of the most appealing weapons in the illegal weapons trade due to its low cost and reliability. In Iraq, a smuggled AK-47 typically costs $150–300. In the first sixth months of the
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, the influx of new weapons lowered the AK-47's price, to the point the weapon was sold for as low as $25, or sometimes, nothing. Comparatively, AK-47s sold on the
Dark web The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on ''darknets'': overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communi ...
in the United States can cost as much as $3,600, as the price of illegal arms is increased greatly by the distance it must travel, due to the induced risk. A
handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...
trafficked from the United States to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
can have its price increase by 560% from just crossing the border. Weapons smuggled overseas will usually take several, short trips with multiple companies to mask the country of origin and the original sellers. In the United States, biker gangs have been connected to arms trafficking. United States
law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...
started investigating bike gangs in the late 90s, and started classifying them as organized criminal organizations. This was mainly due to the fact that they were able to get control of the prostitution market and the smuggling of stolen goods such as weapons, motorcycles, and car parts.


Regulation

Prosecuting arms traffickers and
brokers A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...
has proven difficult due to loopholes in national laws. In 2000, Israeli arms dealer
Leonid Minin Leonid Efimovich Minin (; ua, Леонід Юхимович Мінін, Leonid Yukhymovych Minin; born 14 December 1947) is an international arms trafficker. He was arrested on August 4, 2000 by Italian authorities in Cinisello Balsamo near Mila ...
was arrested in Italy for drug possession, and while serving his sentence, Italian police found over 1,500 pages of forged
end-user certificate An end-user certificate, or EUC, is a document used in international transfers, including sales and arms provided as aid, of weapons and ammunition to certify that the buyer is the final recipient of the materials and does not plan on transferring t ...
s and transfers of money which implicated him in trafficking arms to the
Revolutionary United Front The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...
in
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
. Minin was released in December 2002, as according to Italian law, he could not be tried because the weapons he had sold had never reached Italy. Additionally, some arms dealers will operate in countries where they cannot be
extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...
. Arms traffickers are also able to evade capture due to a lack of co-operation between nations, especially in Africa and ex-Soviet states.


Related theories

In the international criminal scholarly community,
rational choice theory Rational choice theory refers to a set of guidelines that help understand economic and social behaviour. The theory originated in the eighteenth century and can be traced back to political economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. The theory postula ...
is commonly referenced in explanations as to why individuals engage in and justify criminal activity. According to Jana Arsovska and Panos Kostakos, leading scholars on
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
, the causes of arms trafficking are not solely based on rational choice theory but rather have been more closely linked to the intimacy of one's personal social networks as well as the "perception of risks, effort and rewards in violating criminal laws."


In popular culture


Film

*''
Lord of War ''Lord of War'' is a 2005 American crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Andrew Niccol, and co-produced by and starring Nicolas Cage. The film was released in the United States on September 16, 2005, to positive reviews and grosse ...
'' (2005), a crime
war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
in which
Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...
plays a fictional arms dealer named Yuri Orlov, who was based on the real
Viktor Bout Viktor Anatolyevich Bout (; russian: link=no, Виктор Анатольевич Бут; born 13 January 1967) is a Russian arms dealer. A weapons manufacturer and former Soviet military translator, he used his multiple companies to smuggle a ...
. The film was endorsed by
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
for highlighting arms trafficking. ''Lord of War's'' DVD release featured ''Making a Killing: Inside the International Arms Trade,'' a 15-minute documentary about arms trafficking. *''
War Dogs Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...
'' (2016), a dark
comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...
biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
based on the true story of two young men,
David Packouz David Mordechai Packouz ( born February 16, 1982) is an American former arms dealer, musician and inventor. In 2005, Packouz joined Efraim Diveroli in Diveroli's arms company AEY Inc. By the end of 2006, the company had won 149 contracts wor ...
and
Efraim Diveroli Efraim Diveroli (born December 20, 1985) is an American former arms dealer and author. His company, AEY Inc., was a major weapons contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. government suspended AEY for violating its contract afte ...
, who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan and later became involved in arms trafficking.


Television

*''
Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008 to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club ope ...
'', a crime drama about a fictional
outlaw motorcycle club An outlaw motorcycle club is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of Cruiser (motorcycle), cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and chopper (motorcycle), choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate fre ...
whose main source of income is trafficking arms to a variety of criminal enterprises domestically and internationally. *'' Jormungand'', an anime television series based on the
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series by Keitarō Takahashi, focused on an illicit arms dealer and her
child soldier Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...
bodyguard.


See also

*
1973 raid on the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan The 1973 raid on the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan was an armed infiltration carried out by Pakistan in February 1973 at the embassy of Ba'athist Iraq in Islamabad. The raid, carried out by the Pakistan Rangers and the Capital Territory Police, Islama ...
* 1989 Angola Lockheed L-100 crash *
Annie Larsen affair The Annie Larsen affair was a gun-running plot in the United States during World War I. The plot, involving India's Ghadar Party, the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the German Foreign office, was a part of the larger so-called "Hindu–German Cons ...
*
Arms Crisis The Arms Crisis was a political scandal in the Republic of Ireland in 1970 in which Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were dismissed as cabinet ministers for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle arms to the Irish Republican Army in North ...
*
Africa Hinterland Africa Hinterland was an overland travel company set up in the UK in the early 1980s to smuggle arms into South Africa for the military struggle against the apartheid system. It was founded by exiled members of the African National Congress and ...
*
Arms control Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the u ...
*
Arms Control Association The Arms Control Association is a United States-based nonpartisan membership organization founded in 1971, with the self-stated mission of "promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies." The group publishes th ...
*
ATF gunwalking scandal Gunwalking, or "letting guns walk", was a tactic used by the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office and the Arizona Field Office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which ran a series of sting operations bet ...
(Operation Fast and Furious) *
Argentine arms trafficking scandal The Argentine arms trafficking scandal involved illegal arms shipments of 6500 tons of weapons and ammunition from Argentina to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991–1995. At the time of the shipments Croatia was under a United Nations arms embargo, a ...
*
Beecher's Bibles "Beecher's Bibles" was the name given to the breech-loading Sharps rifle that were supplied to and used by the anti-slavery settlers and combatants in Kansas, during the Bleeding Kansas period (1854–1860). The breech loading model 1853 Sharps C ...
*
Cherbourg Project The Cherbourg Project (or Boats of Cherbourg) was an Israeli military operation that took place on 24 December 1969 and involved the escape of five remaining armed Sa'ar 3 class boats from the French port of Cherbourg (Cherbourg-Octeville sin ...
*
Cement Incident The Cement Incident took place in the port of Jaffa in Palestine on 16 October 1935.Krämer, 2008, p. 263. While Arab dockers were unloading a consignment of 537 drums of White-Star cement from the Belgian cargo ship ''Leopold II'', which were de ...
*
Coventry Four Four South African alleged arms smugglers were arrested by HM Customs & Excise officers in Coventry in March 1984 and charged with conspiring to export arms from Britain to apartheid South Africa in contravention of the mandatory United Nations ar ...
* Cuban packages *
Chong Chon Gang ''Chong Chon Gang'' (Chosŏn'gŭl: , Hanja: ) is a North Korean cargo ship, later renamed the ''Tong Hung San''. The general cargo ship was built in 1977 in Nampo. Its owner is listed as Chongchongang Shipping of Pyongyang. Chongchongang Shipp ...
*
Conflict Armament Research Conflict Armament Research (CAR) is a UK-based investigative organization that tracks the supply of conventional weapons, ammunition, and related military materiel (such as IEDs) into conflict-affected areas. Established in 2011, CAR specialises in ...
*
Francop Affair The ''Francop Affair'' was a high seas incident on November 4, 2009 in which the Israeli Navy seized the cargo ship MV ''Francop'' in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and its cargo of hundreds of tons of weapons allegedly bound from Iran to Hezbol ...
*
Gun politics Gun laws and policies, collectively referred to as firearms regulation or gun control, regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of small arms by civilians. Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to ...
*
Guns for Antigua The Guns for Antigua scandal was a political scandal involving the shipment of Israeli-made weapons through Antigua to the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia. The affair was exposed by the Louis Blom-Cooper Royal Commission, following the discovery t ...
*
Howth gun-running The Howth gun-running ( ) involved the delivery of 1,500 Mauser rifles to the Irish Volunteers at Howth harbour in Ireland on 26 July 1914. The unloading of guns from a private yacht during daylight hours attracted a crowd, and the authorities or ...
*
International Action Network on Small Arms The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) was incorporated on 30 May 2002 under the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The IANSA London office was closed in 2015, but it has an active UN liaison office in ...
*
Iran–Contra affair The Iran–Contra affair ( fa, ماجرای ایران-کنترا, es, Caso Irán–Contra), often referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the McFarlane affair (in Iran), or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States ...
* Karine A affair *
Larne gun-running The Larne gun-running was a major gun smuggling operation organised in April 1914 in Ireland by Major Frederick H. Crawford and Captain Wilfrid Spender for the Ulster Unionist Council to equip the Ulster Volunteer Force. The operation involved t ...
* List of illegal arms dealers *
List of most-produced firearms This page lists more than 100 small arms designs which have been produced in numbers exceeding one million since the late 18th century. Many more types have been made in the hundreds of thousands. Many of the firearms on this list are military wea ...
* MV ''Karagatan'' incident *
Operation Balak Operation Balak was a smuggling operation, during the founding of Israel in 1948, that purchased arms in Europe to avoid various embargoes and boycotts transferring them to the Yishuv. Of particular note was the delivery of 23 Czechoslovakia-made ...
*
Operation Velvetta Operation Velvetta (; also known as Operation Alabama) was a 1948 Israeli Air Force operation to ferry Supermarine Spitfires purchased in Czechoslovakia to Israel. The fighter planes were purchased from Czechoslovakia at $23,000 per plane. Arra ...
*
Operation Full Disclosure Operation Full Disclosure ( he, מבצע חשיפה מלאה) was a military operation carried out by the Israel Defense Forces on March 5, 2014, in the Red Sea.Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation began in the early 1970s. With these weapons it conducted an armed campaign against the British state in Northern Ireland. American arms In the early stages of the Troubles, during the period 1 ...
*
Purulia arms drop case The Purulia arms drop happened on 17 December 1995 when unauthorised arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The chief accused "Kim Davy" (real name Niels Holck, alias Niels Chris ...
*
Polish arms sales to Republican Spain Polish arms sales to Republican Spain took place between September 1936 and February 1939. Politically Poland did not support any of the Spanish Civil War sides, though over time the Warsaw government increasingly tended to favor the Nationalists; ...
*
Rekhesh Rekhesh ( he, רֶכֶשׁ, ''lit.'' Acquisitions) was the arms and munitions procurement branch of the Haganah Jewish defense force in Mandatory Palestine, in the middle 1940s, at a time when the British were not allowing the Jews to have arms. ...
*
Santorini affair The ''Santorini'' was a fishing boat used for weapons-smuggling, which was captured in May 2001 by the Israeli Shayetet 13 Naval Commando Unit. This was the first ship caught in an attempt to smuggle weapons to Palestinian-controlled territo ...
*
SS Libau SS ''Libau'' (; originally known as SS ''Castro'') was a merchant steam ship. In 1916 she was disguised with the identity of a Norwegian vessel named the SS ''Aud'' () in an attempt to carry arms from Germany to Ireland as part of the prepa ...
*
SS John Grafton SS ''John Grafton'' was a steamship that was used in an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle large quantities of arms for the Finnish resistance to the Imperial Russian regime in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. The matter later came to be known as t ...
*
Small Arms Survey The Small Arms Survey (SAS) is an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. It provides information on all aspects of small arms and armed violence, as a resour ...
*
Small arms trade The small arms trade (also called small arms proliferation and the small arms market) is the markets of both authorized and illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), as well as their parts, accessories, and ammunition. Definition The arms tra ...
* Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense * United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp *
Victoria Affair The Victoria Affair (code name Operation Iron Law) was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in March 2011 in which the Israeli Navy intercepted the vessel ''Victoria'' on the international waters in the Mediterranean, ...
*
Yugoslav auxiliary Ugor ''Ugor'' (PO-92) was a PO-class logistic transport ship of the Yugoslav Navy, built in 1983 and classed as an ammunition auxiliary. Later sold into merchant service, the ship traded under Montenegro, Montenegrin ownership with the names ''Kairos I ...


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arms Trafficking Arms control Firearm commerce Illegal occupations Gun politics Organized crime activity Small arms Organized crime