Last week, EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson (SocDem) visited the border between Moldova and Romania. She discussed with Moldova’s Interior Minister how to stop arms smuggling from Ukraine.
Ylva Johansson is worried about the amount of weapons that will be available after the war and that the weapons can be smuggled out of Ukraine and used by criminal networks in Sweden.
– Long after the war in the former Yugoslavia, we see the consequences in Sweden, where weapons from the war are used in shootings among gang criminals. Now, with Putin’s war in Ukraine, we see a very high risk of increased criminal arms trafficking, she says.
Ylva Johansson says that after the summer, the European Commission will present a proposal for a review of the Firearms Ordinance.
– We will strengthen both the legal framework and the operational work to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute illegal trade in firearms, says Ylva Johansson.
So what weapons are there in Ukraine today? Weapons expert Rein Pella, a teacher at the Swedish National Defense College, says that the Ukrainian army has all the weapons in a modern army and lists machine guns, armor shots, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and artillery pieces.
What weapons could potentially be used afterwards by criminals?
– Automatic carbines and pistols. They are easiest to hide, easiest to carry.
Sonny Björk has worked as a forensic technician at the Police Authority for 37 years and is now a consultant in forensic technology, where he is often hired by defense lawyers. During the end of the war in the former Yugoslavia, he worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he assisted local and federal police in the work against serious organized crime on behalf of the UN. Sonny Björk says that there were actors who also belonged to the army who smuggled weapons on their own – and that a large amount of weapons were probably stolen from military warehouses.
– I am quite convinced that organized crime in Bosnia had control over many weapons.
How did the weapons then come to Sweden?
– They were smuggled in one way or another. Customs has not had the resources to effectively search for smuggled weapons.
As a forensic technician in Sweden, Sonny Björk has since seen how the weapons from the former Yugoslavia are used by criminal gangs.
– What is available in Sweden from the Balkans when it comes to automatic carbines is Kalashnikovs. But even the smaller k-piste scorpion is very common in Sweden. It was down there as an army weapon, as well as pistols of various brands.
Is there a risk that more weapons will come to the gang criminals in Sweden after the war in Ukraine?
– Yes of course. If these weapons end up among serious organized crime that want to make money from smuggling weapons, then there is also interest in buying.
– The weapons found in Ukraine are more modern than the weapons from the 1980s that were used in the war in the former Yugoslavia. It can be armor shots and other things.
Demand would exist?
– Yes, I think so. There would be a market. When the gangs get their weapons confiscated, they are probably interested in buying new ones.
Daniel Piludu, head of unit at the Swedish Customs’ intelligence unit in Area East, which includes Stockholm, among other places, says that together with the police, they have examined possible problems with arms smuggling after the Ukraine war.
– The Balkans are a source of weapons and have been for a long time. And this can happen in post conflict areas. There is a risk of a similar situation when the war in Ukraine ends or when fighting breaks out. Then there will be a large number of weapons in circulation and then there is an absolute risk that they will be smuggled out of the country, he says.
According to Daniel Piludu, weapons from the Balkan War were often smuggled to Sweden via motor traffic: in cars, in luggage on buses or in trucks.
If weapons used in the war were later smuggled out, which way could they get to Sweden?
– If one assumes that it is the same mode here, that the weapons from Ukraine are smuggled in motor traffic, then it can go via the neighboring countries and then to Sweden, for example via Poland to Nynäshamn. But the heavy traffic goes via Skåne.