Ukraine weapons will fall to arms traffickers after war, says Interpol chief

Secretary general has ‘no doubt’ illegal arms dealing will increase

Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock. AFP

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The head of Interpol on Wednesday raised alarms about a possible rise in weapons trafficking after the war in Ukraine ends.

Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock told the Anglo-American Press Association that he has “no doubt” illegal arms dealing will increase.

“They will show up, not only in the in the neighbouring region of a conflict zone, but we have experience that these weapons might be trafficked to other continents,” Mr Stock said in Paris.

“We have seen that in the Balkans region. We have seen that in theatres in Africa that, of course, organised crime groups try to exploit this chaotic situation, availability of weapons and even weapons that are used by the military.”

Small weapons are the main concern, he said.

Mr Stock encouraged Interpol’s 195 member countries to “intensively use available databases that can help trace and track weapons, for instance those stolen in another country".

“No country in our region can deal with it in isolation because the criminals I’m talking about are operating globally,” he said.

Mr Stock also said Ukraine had asked Interpol for assistance in tracking down missing people and victims using its extensive databases.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, does not carry out investigations but provides training for police and customs officers to, for instance, identify trafficking routes, he said.