A year after jihadists used weapons manufactured in Serbia to gun down victims in Paris, Balkan countries are struggling to end the scourge of illegal arms trafficking. According to a top French magistrate, Robert Gelli, Serbian citizens come up in nearly a third of international arms trafficking probes carried out in France. “The weapons getting through to western Europe and the effects they have is still a major problem,” said Ivan Zverzhanovski, who leads a UN Development Programme project in the Balkans to help combat illegal arms trafficking. On Wednesday, the interior ministry announced its biggest weapons haul in at least 16 years, which led to the arrests of 10 people. Balkan countries are shipping weapons to war-ravaged Syria and Yemen.

Source: Dhaka Tribune November 16, 2016 12:26 UTC