Weapons trafficking

French customs agents find stash of weapons in sports shop

French customs authorities say they have seized a giant stash of weapons found hidden in a sports store in the northern French region of Picardy.

In a Wednesday statement, the French custom office said that its officers seized nearly 500 weapons, more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of ammunition and myriad grenades last Thursday.

The raid was captured by authorities on dramatic video in which armed officers and sniffer dogs scoured the backroom of the shop run by an unnamed individual who did not possess a weapon permit.

During the search, customs officials said they found "an arsenal of long guns" in a car nearby including "weapons of war" and machine guns that were arranged on racks.

It remains unclear why the weapons were amassed.

Weapons trafficking

BORDER POLICE SEIZE CACHE OF AUTOMATIC WEAPONS, IDF UNIFORMS FROM WEST BANK VILLAGE

Border Police raided a makeshift arms factory in the West Bank village of Beit Arush early Thursday morning, arresting one man and seizing a cache of illegal rifles, improvised automatic weapons, IDF uniforms, binoculars and ammunition.

According to police, the operation took place overnight after intelligence was received about illegal activity in the warehouse, which was used primarily to manufacture Carl Gustav-type and Kalashnikov rifles.

“We knew the structure was being used as a weapons factory, and units arrived in the area overnight and shut it down,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that the unidentified Palestinian suspect, who is in his 40s, had a permit to travel into Israel.

He said this “was one of the many operations taking place in Judea and Samaria to seize weapons being used in Israel by terrorist cells who are planning attacks.”

Weapons trafficking

Most weapons on the dark web come from US, study finds

Weapons, drugs and stolen identities are readily available on the dark web, a hidden part of the internet that you can only access through special browsers like Tor. To investigate where guns, ammunition and guides to their use come from, the UK's University of Manchester and think tank Rand Europe scoured 12 dark web marketplaces -- or cryptomarkets -- and found 811 listings relevant to the study, published Wednesday.

Most weapons were from the USA, where gun control is a divisive issue, and most sales were destined for Europe. A gun bought from the dark web was used in a terrorist attack in Munich in 2016.

"The dark web is both an enabler for the trade of illegal weapons already on the black market and a potential source of diversion for weapons legally owned", said Giacomo Persi Paoli, the report's lead author. "The ability for criminals and terrorists, as well as vulnerable or fixated individuals, to make virtually anonymous purchases is perhaps the most dangerous aspect."

Weapons trafficking

UNDERCOVER AGENT LEADS TO ARRESTS ON WEAPONS, DRUG TRAFFICKING SUSPICIONS

Israel Police arrested 20 suspects throughout Israel on Sunday after a months-long undercover operation in the weapons and drug trafficking trade. 

The agent, who operated for five months largely in Arab-Israeli communities, purchased three pistols, four M-16 rifles, an Uzi and Carl Gustav submachine guns, as well as hashish, cocaine, and ecstasy, during the course of the operation.

Police also confiscated NIS 100,000 and vehicles that were allegedly used in trafficking. 

Early Sunday morning some 160 police officers conducted raids and arrests in Kfar Kana, Beit Zarzir, Nazareth, Kaabiya, Zalafa and Ashkelon.

The suspects will appear before the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court on Sunday where police are seeking to extend their remands. 

“The undercover agent activity is part of an ongoing and uncompromising struggle against the phenomenon of the use and possession of weapons and drugs. This phenomenon harms the basic and personal security of the normal citizen,” The Northern District Police said in a statement. 

Weapons trafficking

MS-13 - The gang that scares other gangs

They’re known as MS-13, MS, Mara or Mara Salvatrucha, but by any name, they’re trouble.

MS-13 is a Central American gang founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s by Salvadoran immigrants. While still heavily represented in California, they have spread across the nation—into at least 42 states and Washington, D.C.-- and beyond, especially into Central America.

It’s estimated there are more than 10,000 members in the U.S., and over 30,000 worldwide.

Many gang members can be recognized by elaborate tattoos and special hand signals they use, but it’s their criminal activities and tremendous violence that have got the attention of the FBI and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They are known for using machetes to hack some of their victims. 

Weapons trafficking

MERCHANT OF DOUBT

IN THE LATE evening of December 15, 2014, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration descended on a hotel in Podgorica, Montenegro, to take into custody a man arrested by local authorities for arms trafficking.

Flaviu Georgescu, an American citizen from Romania, had been in the DEA’s sights for years. A tall, heavyset man in his mid-40s with close-cropped hair, Flaviu worked as a private security contractor in Bucharest.

Over the past several months, Flaviu had been meeting with a Colombian man who claimed to be a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. This man had sought Flaviu’s help setting up a multimillion-dollar arms deal to help rearm FARC in Colombia. Arrested with Flaviu in the hotel that night was another man, Cristian Vintila, then a high-ranking government minister in Romania and another participant in the alleged arms deal. It seemed like a high-profile nab for the DEA.

Weapons trafficking

Inside the illegal online weapons trade

One day, Michael Andrew Ryan sat down at a computer, hopped onto a hidden part of the Internet known as the dark Web, called himself "Gunrunner" and opened for business.

His international weapons operation offered anyone a virtual laundry list of weapons with brand names that have become disturbingly familiar:

• Glock
• Beretta
• Uzi
• Highpoint
• Walther

To make these guns hard to trace, Gunrunner took off their serial numbers and shipped them to countries where buying these guns was difficult -- if not altogether banned by law.

And it was all happening under the noses of the residents of the sleepy little town of Manhattan, Kansas, population: about 56,000.

Weapons trafficking

Anti-Air Missile Launcher Captured From Mexican Drug Cartel

A new weapon seized in a series of raids on the Mexican drug cartels in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, shows a concerning addition to the arsenals of the powerful gangs.

Between April 15 and April 19, agents of the Mexican attorney general carried out raids on the cartels, under what they called operation “For The Safety Of Casas Grande.” They seized drugs, a high-caliber sniper rifle, thousands of rounds of ammunition, 19 luxury vehicles, and five tigers.

But the main catch of the operation wasn’t the drugs or the exotic animals. The biggest find was a shoulder-fired anti-air missile launcher.

Mexican authorities released a photo of the Redeye (infrared) man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS). They also released a photo of a cartel enforcer holding the weapon backwards.

Weapons trafficking

Busted! CIA reveals Hillary and Obama armed ISIS

The Obama administration pursued a policy in Libya back in 2011 that ultimately allowed guns to walk into the hands of jihadists linked to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and al-Qaeda (AQ) in Syria, according to a former CIA officer who co-authored a report on behalf of the Citizen’s Commission on Benghazi (CCB), detailing the gun running scheme.

Clare Lopez, a former CIA officer and the primary author of CCB’s interim report, titled How America Switched Sides in the War on Terror, speaking with Breitbart News.