Weapons Sent to Ukraine Will ‘No Doubt’ Fuel Uptick in Global Arms Trafficking, Interpol Chief Warns

There is “no doubt” that illegal arms trafficking will increase once the conflict in Ukraine has ended, the head of Interpol warned on Wednesday.

“We have seen that in the Balkans region… We have seen that in theaters in Africa that, of course, organized crime groups try to exploit this chaotic situation, availability of weapons and even weapons that are used by the military”, Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock told the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris.

Ever since Russia started its special military operation in the neighbouring country on 24 February following a plea for assistance from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk to defend them from intensifying attacks by the Kiev regime, the US and its allies have been flooding Ukraine with weapons. Moscow has from the outset emphasised that said that the aim of its operation is to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine and that only military infrastructure is being targeted. However, the US and its allies, besides launching a sweeping sanctions campaign against Russia, have committed billions' worth of military aid for Ukraine in recent months.

However, these stockpiles of weapons funnelled into Ukraine will likely end up in the global hidden economy and in the hands of criminals, the head of Interpol said.

'Illegal Weapons Will Come’

According to Jürgen Stock, once the active phase of the operation in Ukraine ends, a steady supply of guns and heavy arms will flood the international market.

At that point, he emphasised, Interpol’s member states, especially those currently supplying weapons, would need to cooperate on arms tracing.

“Once the guns fall silent [in Ukraine], the illegal weapons will come. We know this from many other theatres of conflict. The criminals are even now, as we speak, focusing on them”, Stock said.

Jürgen Stock cautioned countries against thinking they could deal with such an imminent challenge individually.

“Criminal groups try to exploit these chaotic situations and the availability of weapons, even those used by the military and including heavy weapons. These will be available on the criminal market and will create a challenge. No country or region can deal with it in isolation because these groups operate at a global level”.

A case in point was Afghanistan, which the US “chaotically” withdrew from in 2021, following 20 years of war, leaving behind huge amounts of sophisticated military equipment that fell into the hands of the Taliban*, the Interpol chief added.

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He added that now was the time to be alarmed, as “an influx of weapons in Europe and beyond” was imminent and one could “expect these weapons to be trafficked not only to neighbouring countries but to other continents”.

One immediate way of dealing with the potentially explosive situation was for member-states of Interpol to use its database to help “track and trace” the weapons.

“We are in contact with member countries to encourage them to use these tools. Criminals are interested in all kinds of weapons … basically any weapons that can be carried might be used for criminal purposes”.

Washington and its Western allies have sent shipments of high-end military weapons to Ukraine since the Russian operation began.

The Pentagon on 1 June laid out the contents of a $700 million tranche of weapons promised by US President Joe Biden earlier this week. The military package includes four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Mi-17 helicopters once destined for Afghanistan, radars, anti-tank weapons, heavy artillery rounds, and other items. The HIMARS the US is sending will use ammunition with a range of 80 km, not the 300 km afforded by the system’s longest-range ammunition.

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Washington’s new assistance will augment the Javelin anti-tank systems and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that the West is delivering to Ukraine on a daily basis. This will take the total amount of US security assistance for Ukraine to $4.6 billion since the start of the special operation launched by Russia.

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Russia has repeatedly warned the US and its allies about the dangers of funnelling weapons to Ukraine, stressing that the cargoes are considered a legitimate military target for Russian missiles. Furthermore, Moscow underscored that such military assistance serves to prolong the conflict, and could even risk a direct confrontation with NATO.