Past the folks arrested and weapons seized, police and different authorities additionally laid their arms on 305 000 rounds of ammunition. (iStock)
- Greater than 14 000 folks have been arrested and eight 000 weapons seized in a firearm operation coordinated by Interpol.
- Over 200 tons of cocaine and different medication price $5.7 billion had been additionally seized within the operation throughout Central and South America.
- The physique stated its actions had helped uncover different crimes together with “corruption, fraud, human trafficking, environmental crime and terrorist actions”.
Over 14 000 folks have been arrested and eight 000 weapons seized in an anti-firearms operation throughout Central and South America, Interpol stated Tuesday.
In addition to weapons, the raids swept up over 200 tons of cocaine and different medication price $5.7 billion, in addition to 370 tonnes of drug precursors (chemical components), the France-based police cooperation physique stated in a press release.
Dubbed “Set off IX”, it was “the most important firearms operation ever coordinated by Interpol,” it added.
“The truth that an operation focusing on illicit firearms resulted in such huge medication seizures is additional proof, if wanted, that these crimes are intertwined,” Interpol chief Juergen Inventory stated within the assertion.
Past the folks arrested and weapons seized, police and different authorities additionally laid their arms on 305 000 rounds of ammunition.
A 100 000-round haul in Uruguay “trafficked internationally by two European nationals” was “the nation’s largest-ever such seizure”, Interpol stated.
The physique stated its actions had helped uncover different crimes together with “corruption, fraud, human trafficking, environmental crime and terrorist actions”.
Members of the Balkans Cartel, Brazilian organised crime outfit PrimeiRo Comando da Capital and El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha mafia had been all arrested over arms trafficking, whereas 11 trafficked folks had been freed in Paraguay.
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay participated, whereas the operation itself was funded by the European Union.
Set off IX drew in police forces in addition to different legislation enforcement companies such because the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
