Converted weapons in focus - Technical workshop on Countering Illicit Arms Trafficking

Technical Workshop on Countering Illicit Arms Trafficking, organized with law enforcement representatives from Pristina and Skopje shed light on the emerging issue of converted weapons in the region. After the  presentation of a problem profile of converted weapon trafficking, representatives from the two jurisdictions shared their experiences on findings during blank firing weapons investigations. A separate session was dedicated to lessons learnt from  investigation on a detected conversion workshop in North Macedonia where representative from this jurisdiction shared their findings. Finally, participants also took stock of participation of Western Balkans jurisdictions in the Operation Bosphorus organized by EMPACT.

This workshop was organized in the framework of implementation of EU  COUNCIL DECISION (CFSP) 2018/1788 of 19 November 2018 in support of SEESAC for the implementation of the Regional Roadmap on combating illicit arms trafficking in the Western Balkans and aims to increase awareness of the local law enforcement on the issue of converted weapons.