INTERPOL-UNODC Cooperation: Detecting and Prosecuting Weapons Trafficking
LYON (France) — A police operation targeting firearms trafficking across South America has seen thousands of illicit firearms seized, thousands of arrests and investigative leads generated on crime networks and smuggling routes.
Over three weeks (8-28 March), Operation Trigger VI saw the arrest of almost 4,000 suspects across all 13 South American countries, with some 200,000 illicit firearms, parts, components, ammunition and explosives recovered.
Hundreds of thousands of people and vehicles were searched at suspected hotspots and air, land and sea borders across the region.
Coordinated by INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the joint operation enabled police, customs, border and prosecution services to work together, carrying out nearly 10,000 checks against INTERPOL databases to track illegal firearms and identify potential links with organized crime.
Whilst investigations continue across the region, initial results and highlights include:
“Firearms present a very serious threat to South America’s security and stability. This is why multi-agency transnational cooperation is essential to identify and dismantle the organized crime and terrorist groups involved,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
“Operation Trigger VI has seen thousands of illicit weapons taken out of the hands of criminals and is testimony to the commitment of South American law enforcement despite the challenges of a global pandemic,” added Secretary General Stock.
With firearms trafficking intrinsically linked to a wide range of other serious crime, results also included:
Intelligence Led Investigations
Countries targeted suspects, networks and locations based on intelligence collected ahead of the operation.
Officers across the 13 countries simultaneously checked firearms against INTERPOL’s iARMS database to determine if the weapons had been reported as lost, stolen, trafficked or smuggled. With over a million records, iARMS enables the identification of firearms trafficking patterns and smuggling routes.
“By providing training and fostering cooperation as part of Operation Trigger VI, UNODC was pleased to support South America’s criminal justice systems’ responses to firearms trafficking and its links to organized crime. This is in line with our Office’s role as the guardian of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Firearms Protocol, the only legally binding instruments addressing transnational organized crime and illicit firearms trafficking at the global level,” said UNODC’s Executive Director Ghada Waly.
“It is vital for UNODC and INTERPOL to join forces to ensure countries develop the capacity and tools to tackle firearms trafficking both on the ground and in court,” added the UNODC Executive Director.
Pre-operational training delivered jointly by INTERPOL and UNODC ensured that officers and prosecutors had the skills needed to detect, identify, investigate and prosecute firearms crime holistically, with each firearm considered as part of a larger, connected scheme.
The European Union funds Trigger operations and the iARMS database, the world’s only global illicit firearms database.
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For further information please contact:
Wolfgang Friedl
Communication Consultant — UNODC ISS
Mobile: (+34) 620256189
Email: wolfgang.friedl[at]un.org