Weapons smuggling

Iran weapons smuggling a flagrant breach of UN resolution

Iran’s smuggling of weapons and arms to militia groups or governments, some of which are designated as terrorist groups or state sponsors of terrorism, is rising. This is in direct violation of UN Resolution 2231 and a UN arms embargo. It is important to note that the UN Resolution 2231 is also endorsed by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is commonly known as the Iran deal.

Weapons smuggling

CIA stayed silent on allegations it was involved in IRA gunrunning

The CIA stayed silent on explosive allegations it was involved in gunrunning to the IRA at the height of the Troubles, declassified intelligence files reveal.

The concerns were raised in a letter to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency from a congressman who warned it to "speak out vehemently" or risk other criminal and terrorist organisations "finding cover under the CIA umbrella".

It followed the November 1982 trial of five self-confessed IRA gun smugglers - including Michael Flannery, the 80-year-old founder of Noraid - found not guilty of transporting an arsenal of weapons and ammunition into Northern Ireland.

The five claimed they bought the arms from an arms dealer who was an undercover CIA agent.

The CIA, with a licence to export weapons, had aided their operation in order to monitor the flow of arms to Ireland and prevent the IRA from turning to the Soviet Union for arms, the defence claimed.

Weapons smuggling

TSA agents find record number of guns at airport screenings

Transportation Safety Agency officials seized a record number of firearms at the nations airports last year and most of them were loaded.

In its 2106 year in review, the TSA outlined the number of weapons – and other banned items – agents found at 239 airports as they screened more than 738 million passengers.

Last year, they seized 3,391 firearms, an increase of 28 percent over the 2015, when 2,653 guns were found. Of those taken in 2016, about 83 percent of the weapons were loaded.

Three southern cities top the list where most firearms were found.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, agents uncovered the most number of firearms — 198, 87 percent of which were loaded — that passengers carried into screening checkpoints.

Weapons smuggling

I-TEAM exposes massive gun-smuggling gateway

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives points to our open highways with access to JaxPort. Those interstates include I-10, even I-75, and the big one, I-95.

In fact, I-95 is so notorious for gun trafficking, it's called the "Iron Pipeline." Guns from Florida and Georgia head north to be sold for big bucks in states with stricter gun laws.

And, when you add in Jacksonville's port, ATF says it makes our city a perfect place for international gun trafficking rings, bringing the criminal element to town -- along with the weapons.

Weapons smuggling

Border services’ gun smuggling busts ‘showcasing’: criminologist

If you feel safer from gun violence thanks to news that border agents have been catching U.S. handguns at the border recently, you’re likely mistaken.

The Canada Border Services Agency announced on Tuesday that two travellers busted with guns at the Abbotsford border crossing were convicted of smuggling, and on Monday the agency announced it had caught a woman in Prince Rupert who had hidden parts of a handgun throughout her car while driving from Alaska.

“Canadian firearms laws are clear,” CBSA said in a press release. “Anyone importing firearms and weapons into Canada must declare them and meet all licensing and registration requirements under the Firearms Act.

“Failure to declare firearms and weapons may lead to prosecution in a court of law.”

California resident Rodrick Hines, 32, was arrested on May 4 with a .40-calibre pistol and two large-capacity magazines under his car’s dash, and pleaded guilty to smuggling. Several weeks later, Washington resident Kiho Kang, 48, was caught with a 9mm restricted handgun and five large-capacity magazines in his trunk; he also pleaded guilty to smuggling.

Weapons smuggling

More Bodies From Eric Holder? Phoenix Gun Tied To Paris Terror Attacks

...Reading between the lines, it would be reasonable to conclude that the most likely reason that the ATF would cover up federal gun felonies was that the individual involved had damaging information regarding Operation Fast and Furious, a gun smuggling plot of the Obama administration that attempted to inflate the number of American firearms recovered in Mexican drug cartel shootouts in order to build a case for banning the sale of semi-automatic rifles, certain semi-automatic pistols, and .50 BMG rifles in the United States.

What is still a mystery is how and why a French Islamic terrorist wound up with an American firearm.

More than 300 people, including American and Mexican law enforcement officers, were murdered with firearms smuggled over the border to the Sinaloa drug cartel by the Obama Administration. Now we’re discovering that an individual with knowledge of (and possibly direct participation in) Operation Fast and Furious might have supplied at least one of the guns that terrorists used in Paris.

Weapons smuggling

Swiss-French arms trafficking ring dismantled

An investigation by the French police has led to the arrest of two Swiss residents involved in smuggling arms to the French cities of Toulouse and Marseilles. Around 300 to 400 weapons of different calibers, including a Kalashnikov and M16 were seized. 

Information on the trafficking operation was obtained after investigations in France and Switzerland in June and July, said the Marseilles public prosecutor Brice Robin at a press conference in the city on Monday. 

Two suppliers of weapons were identified – a Swiss and a French citizen – both Swiss residents. A total of 17 individuals appeared before a court and nine were jailed for participating in the smuggling operation. Two main networks were identified. 

“In the first case, the two [people] implicated supplied the city of Toulouse with assault rifles,” said Robin. He added that the city was one that was susceptible to crime. “In the second network, arms were imported from Switzerland to France at the rate of one or two per month for around three years.” 

Weapons smuggling

Turkish Police’s Secret Reports Confirm Arms Shipment to Terrorists in Syria

“Certain elements linked to terrorists in Syria are still shipping weapons and supplying their logistics from Turkey,” the Turkish-language daily, Karshi, cited a police report to the country’s public prosecutor about its operations in the city of Diyarbakir.

The newspaper, meantime, said that certain communities have also provided financial supports for the terrorists fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The daily also said the Al-Nusra and ISIL terrorist groups have established bases in Turkey to train recruits, adding that many explosive devices are even manufactured and assembled on Turkish soils.

Earlier on Tuesday, Spokesman of a Turkish political party revealed the Turkish government, since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, has been smuggling weapons to the terrorist organizations in Syria using a large number of ambulance vehicles.

Weapons smuggling

UK considers basing military teams in Libya to stop arms smuggling

British defence officials are considering basing military trainers in Libya and sending another warship to the Mediterranean after the EU agreed to boost an anti-people smuggling operation and enforce a UN arms embargo.

The EU said on Monday it would extend Operation Sophia's mandate by one year to July 2017, and improve its capacity as per a UN resolution, as the EU tries to control the flow of weapons into Libya and refugees heading to Europe from its shores.

Sophia currently comprises five vessels and three helicopters charged with intercepting smugglers' boats and destroying them in international waters. 

It comes after the British Prime Minister David Cameron said last month that the UK would "take an active leadership role in that process".

A spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence told Middle East Eye on Monday the UK was considering stationing military personal in Libyan ports to train the Libyan coastguard, as well as basing another Royal Navy warship off its coast.

Weapons smuggling

UN Greenlights EU Operation Against Libya Arms Smuggling

In a bid to bolster the Libyan government and stop the spread of weapons into the hands of terrorists and militias there, the U.N. Security Council adopted a measure Tuesday authorizing a European Union naval force to stop and search ships, and seize illegal arms headed to or from Libya.

The measure would expand the work of the EU-run Operation Sophia, which for the past year has been trying to disrupt migrant smuggling from Libya in the Mediterranean.

"This text marks a turning point, a potential game changer for Libya, because it addresses an urgent need in terms of security," said French Ambassador François Delattre, who co-sponsored the draft. "We all know the violations of the arms embargo only serve to feed the instability of this country and benefit Daesh, our common enemy, and other terrorist groups," he added, using an Arabic acronym for the self-styled Islamic State.

Weapons smuggling

ICE HSI, partners arrest 66 Massachusetts gang members on gun and drug charges

Sixty-six alleged gang members from the Boston metropolitan area were indicted in federal court Thursday on multiple charges related to conspiracy to commit murder and fueling a gun and drug pipeline across eastern Massachusetts.

These indictments resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Massachusetts State Police, the police departments of the following Massachusetts communities; Boston, Brockton, Malden, Revere and Everett; and the Sheriff’s departments of Suffolk and Middlesex Counties.

Weapons smuggling

Ukraine’s Out of Control Arms Bazaar in Europe’s Backyard

When the the Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, announced recently that it had detained a 25-year-old French citizen, Grégoire Moutaux, who was trying to cross the country’s border into Poland in a vehicle full of explosives and weapons, that sounded likea major blow against terrorism.

SBU spokesman Vasyl Hrytsak declared that after two weeks of investigation, which is to say of interrogation, “The Ukrainian Security Service managed to prevent 15 terrorist attacks targeting the territory of France.”

According to the SBU this alleged French criminal attempted to smuggle five Kalashnikov assault rifles, more than 50,000 bullets, two RPG-7 anti-tank grenade-launchers, 100 electronic detonators, and 125 kilograms of TNT across Ukraine’s frontier.

Perhaps. But in Kiev, the announcement was greeted with deep skepticism. Neither local journalists nor independent observers place much trust in SBU reports these days, and with good reason.

Weapons smuggling

Malta was stepping stone for smuggling of weapons to Sicilian mafia

The Italian Carabinieri and Europol officers have arrested two leading members of the Mafia clan Ceusi, affiliated to the criminal group Cosa Nostra for weapons smuggling.

The arrest took place on 7 June, in n Catania, Sicily.

The investigation, coordinated by the local district Anti-Mafia Directorate, was initiated following the seizure in June 2015 of a parcel containing firearms and ammunition.

That same month, on the basis on information provided by Europol, the French Police Nationale intercepted a parcel containing three pistols and a machine gun. Both these parcels were traced back to the same individuals.

Intelligence analysis provided by Europol helped reveal that the suspects had purchased over 160 decommissioned firearms from Slovakia for a total value of €45,000.

These deactivated weapons had their barrels perforated by a pin, a step which can be easily defeated by changing the barrel.

The Italian investigators revealed that a number of these firearms had been reactivated and sent to Malta via courier services.

Weapons smuggling

Smuggled weapons haul of automatic rifles and sub-machine 'could have been used in Paris-style attack on British streets'

The haul of 22 VZ58s, dubbed the "Czech AK47", nine Skorpion sub-machine guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were said to have had four times the firepower of the weapons that killed 130 in the Paris attacks last November

Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey: "Each of the weapons was fully functioning. All of the ammunition was live.

"The assault rifles were designed for the Czech military, and were also used by Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War, the court heard.

They could have fetched between £2,000 and £4,000 in the UK, having been bought for as little as £118 in Slovakia.

Mr Atkinson said they were capable of "a devastating rate of fire".

He added: "Their use in this country, hitherto, has been extremely rare because of their size.

Weapons smuggling

Ringleader of UK's biggest gun-smuggling operation jailed for 35 years

The ringleader of Britain’s biggest known gun-smuggling operation has been sentenced to 35 years in jail for shipping £100,000 worth of weapons from the same source used in the Charlie Hebdo terror attack. 

Harry Shilling bragged “we [are] now officially gangsters” after 22 assault rifles and nine Skorpion sub-machine guns from eastern Europe sailed up the river Medway from Boulogne in France. 

The 26-year-old and Michael Defraine, 30, were found guilty of gun smuggling and possessing firearms with intent to endanger life following a trial at the Old Bailey held amid almost unprecedented security. 

Weapons smuggling

Israel thwarts smuggling of weapons supplies into Gaza

Israeli security forces were able to thwart the smuggling of a Gaza Strip-bound shipment of supplies used in projectile manufacturing, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The shipment, meant for the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, was supposed to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing. It was intercepted at the Hebron-adjacent Tarkumia checkpoint by a joint taskforce comprising Shin Bet security agency officers and their counterparts at the Defense Ministry's Crossings Directorate.

The contraband included hundreds of four-inch steel pipes used by weapon mills producing mortar shells, as well electric engines and engine parts, used by Hamas in its efforts to rebuild its grid of terror tunnels.