illicit-trade-wco-2013

Concealed MK2 style hand grenades
Photo courtesy of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Customs
Gun Beretta 92 FS, 9 mm with 15 bullets concealed in a car
Photo courtesy of Georgian Customs
Method of concealment
Chart 2. Seizures by Customs procedure
In terms of the method of concealment, there is still a
very large portion of cases where the method of
concealment is not identified (1,218 cases; 72,289
pieces). Therefore, the analysis on the method of
concealment can only be done effectively based on
the 3,684 cases where the reporting country provided
information in this category (see Table 3).
Internal 27 %
Transit 5 %
Import 36 %
Since cases vary by size, its number by method of
concealment does not provide enough information of
the most frequent methods of concealment used for
particular types of weapons. Therefore, an additional
analysis is needed based on the type of goods,
method of concealment and quantity of goods seized.
Export 32 %
Out of the 4,902 reported cases, ammunition was mainly
found in freight, baggage, transport and mail. Cold
weapons, pistols, rifles, pneumatic weapons and scopes
were primarily found in freight. The largest cases of
seizures of magazines (by quantity of pieces) were easy
to detect as they were not concealed and transported by
air. Almost all electroshock weapons and parts, as well
as gas weapons and parts were found concealed in
transport. Blank guns were mainly transported by air and
were not concealed. There was one seizure of a large
quantity of blank guns at the seaport at import, and
these guns were not concealed either.
Table 3. Classification by concealment method
Concealment Number Quantity
method of cases (pieces)
In freight 595 600,773
In baggage 940 398,412
In transport 983 196,201
Not concealed 340 75,211
Unknown 1,218 72,289
In premises 79 48,348
On the person 142 28,283
In mail 603 19,828
On market places 2 14
Total 4,902 1,439,359
102