illicit-trade-wco-2013

Bow with arrows
Photo courtesy of Cuban Customs
Pneumatic weapons: 1 AR-15 style; 1 MP-5 style; 1 Carl Gustav
M45 style
Photo courtesy of Swiss Customs
catapults, stun guns and nunchaku, etc. The five
largest seizures were made en route from China to the
Czech Republic by sea, and included knuckle dusters,
nunchaku, stun guns and precision catapults, which
accounts for 86 per cent (10,488 pieces) of all cold
weapons seized. These seizures were reported by
Slovenia and Germany. The remaining 14 per cent
(1,640 pieces) of cases where cold weapons were
detected were either single cases of one and more cold
weapons or compound cases with different types of
weapons. In some countries, in particular, the Asia-
Pacific region, certain types of cold weapons are in free
circulation and can be purchased by individuals for
personal use. Therefore, in many instances they are
seized in single quantities at airports or land borders.
The quantities of pneumatic weapons and rifles are
rather similar. The predominant feature of seizures
related to these two kinds of weapons is that the majority
of them only contained one unit of weapon. The
largest seizure was of 320 pieces. The same dynamic
is observed in relation to hunting firearms (including
shotguns), revolvers and machine guns.
Electroshock weapons and parts include electric guns,
electric zappers and their parts. No large quantities
were seized in this category.
War weapons include grenades, rockets (including
signal rockets) and other items. Out of eight countries
that reported results in this category, France reported
seizures that accounted for 72 per cent (170 pieces) of
the total and they mostly took place inland, followed
by Germany with 14 per cent (33 pieces) and Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – 9 per cent (20
pieces). Another five countries reported 4 per cent of
goods seized.
Gas weapons and parts include different kinds of gas
weapons, tear gas and pepper spray. Out of 173
weapons in this category, Denmark made a large
seizure equal to 59 per cent (102 pieces) of the
total quantity. The seizure contained pepper spray
discovered on the land border in a vehicle coming from
Germany. Apart from this seizure, the majority of
instances of smuggling of gas weapons and their parts
were reported by Denmark as well. Other items mainly
included bullet-proof vests.
Reporting countries
In total 41 countries reported seizures of weapons
and ammunition in 2013. In the majority of cases the
reporting country is the country that made the
seizure. Since there is no specification on type of
goods seized by country, the total quantity of cases
reported per country was taken as a proxy. Chart 1
includes top ten reporting countries and the number
of reported seizures.
The reason for a big difference between the number
of reports by the USA and other countries is partially
due to the fact that USA reports all cases, whereas
out of 2,957 cases, 1,201 (or 41%) are internal ones
(i.e. goods were seized inland with the USA indicated
100