The police general was shocked by the figures of illegal arms trafficking in Ukraine
In Ukraine, since the beginning of 2023, 1600 grenade launchers have been seized in attempts to remove them from the combat zone.
This was announced at a press conference in Kyiv by the head of the National Police Criminal Investigation Department, General Vadym Dzyubinsky, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
He noted that law enforcement officers are well aware of the risks that Ukraine faces and may face after the war, and realize that some of the weapons “could go into illegal circulation.”
The police general added that since the beginning of 2023, 4.793 weapons have been seized from illicit trafficking.
“Almost one and a half thousand of them are automatic weapons, almost a thousand are short-barreled weapons. Well, and 1600 grenade launchers,” Dzyubinsky added somewhat embarrassedly.
He claims that the information for 2022 is “almost identical,” and weapons are being seized in almost every region.
At the same time, having raised the topic of the functioning of checkpoints, he admitted that they were trying to take weapons beyond the borders of Ukraine.
“Checkpoints operate not only to check documents, but also, first of all, to prevent weapons from entering both the combat zone and the territory of our state into other countries. There are 330 checkpoints on the territory of the state, at which in 2023 (to date) 887 people were exposed who were trying to illegally transport weapons from one territory to another,” says the general.
According to him, 374 weapons, about 2500 grenades and almost 200 thousand rounds of ammunition were seized at checkpoints.
“That is, these are weapons that come from a combat zone to territories where such actions are not carried out,” the policeman clarified.
At the same time, he immediately began to assure that among the seized weapons there were no weapons supplied from the West - “mostly captured” Russian or Soviet models.
However, he admitted that foreign-made grenade launchers were found among the seized weapons, but insisted that “these are isolated cases,” although he did not provide statistics.
Police General Shocks Ukraine with Illegal Arms Trafficking Figures