under an Interagency Agreement with the
United States Government

Tel: 202−707−3900
Fax: 202−707−3920
E-Mail: frds@loc.gov
Homepage: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/

Sources of arms are diverse, but stockpiles in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union constitute a major point of origin.

Often, the addition of larger weapons such as antitank
guns has signaled a terrorist group’s change of emphasis to attacking hard military
installations rather than civilian targets, which can be reached with less sophisticated explosive
devices. However, an escalation to surface-to-air missiles2 may indicate that civilian aircraft have become a target.
The demand for illegal weapons in Western Europe has supplemented the demand in
Africa and Asia that has supported trafficking networks that base their operations on stockpiles
in the former Warsaw Pact nations, the former Yugoslavia, and the nations of the former Soviet
Union. This demand, which is based both in terrorist groups and in organized crime networks,
ultimately benefits both corrupt military and civilian operators in source countries such as
Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and Romania, and intermediary agents such as Albanian, Croatian,
Romanian, and Serbian criminal groups. The ongoing world demand for military-type weapons
has slowed efforts by struggling countries such as Bulgaria and Romania to dispose of their
military surpluses in less lucrative but more socially beneficial ways.
Robert Horvath- DEVA ziarist USA http://www.devagallery.com

Federal agents raided a Blackwater armory Tuesday and seized 34 automatic rifles that the company purchased and stored on behalf of a local law enforcement agency, the Associated Press reports.

Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, tells AP that ATF agents searched the Moyock, N.C., facility. The raid came after reports on a deal in which the company paid for weapons that were registered in the name of the Camden County, N.C., Sheriff’s Office.
“The agreements gives the sheriff’s office unlimited access to the weapons, including 17 Romanian AK-47s ,” the wire service says. “But [Sheriff Tony] Perry said his department has only used the AK-47s in shooting practice at Blackwater and that none of his 19 deputies are qualified to use them.”
Federal law prohibits private companies or individuals from purchasing automatic weapons.

REUTERS:

“Operation Apehanger- Romanian arms”
On Saturday, September 19, 2009, Agents from the Santa Barbara Regional Narcotic Enforcement Team (SBRNET), in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, (BATF), and with support from the Santa Barbara Police Department SWAT team, California Highway Patrol warrant service teams, Los Angeles Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, San Luis Obispo County Narcotics Task Force, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, served search and arrest warrants on 7 locations and 7 suspects within the City of Santa Barbara.

This successful warrant service resulted in the arrest of all 7 subjects and 5 additional subjects, accused of operating a criminal conspiracy to traffic in illegal firearms and narcotics, and was the culminating event in “Operation Apehanger”, a joint SBRNET and BATF investigation. During the course of this nine-month investigation Agents seized numerous fully automatic AK-47 assault rifles, as well as semi-automatic assault rifles with high capacity magazines, a stolen handgun, additional handguns with high capacity magazines, and several ounces of cocaine. “The type of firepower that these individuals were illegally manufacturing and selling is an extreme danger to every resident of this area. These are the types of weapons that the men and woman of our military face on battlefields in the middle-east and are the same types of firearms used in the cartel-fueled violence in Mexico,” said Christopher Shaefer, Acting Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Los Angeles Field Division. ”
CNN:
This week the ATF arrested a fellow named Victor Varela at a border crossing in New Mexico. CNN articles are here and here. They claim he’s a gunrunner who’s fueling some of Mexico’s worst drug violence, and they say he was trying to procure a full-auto M60 machine gun for use the cartels’ war on public order. He allegedly used (illegal) straw-man purchases to assemble his shipments–which may have included especially powerful .50 BMG Barrett-style sniper rifles. A .50 BMG sniper rifle was used to kill a Juarez police commissioner in Juarez.
As is usually the case for MSM reporting on gun crime, CNN’s video, here, pings my BS meter at a couple of points. They show you, at four minutes in, an ATF officer taking out some Romanian-made “AK-47 type knockoff” rifles, thirty of which have been intercepted. Note the thumbhole stock; it’s likely a semi-automatic version made for the American market. But CNN then cuts to video of an agent firing a full-auto AK-47, with a visibly different military-pattern stock and pistol grip. And the announcer claims that these rifles–still talking about the intercepted Romanian rifles–were fully automatic.

NACLA :
ROMANIANS GUNS: THE US TREAT TO MEXICAN NATIONAL SECURITY
The U.S. Threat to Mexican National
GYet the Mexican state’s armed response has done little to solve the problem. In 2008, drug-related killings surpassed 2.500, up from 2,100 in 2007.
A crucial part of the problem lies in the cartels’ firepower, which now rivals even that of the regular Mexican army Both the cartels and the Mexican state get their arms from the US , an astonishing 2,000 Romanian guns entered Mexico every day. overwhelmingly from across the northern border, according to official Mexican estimates. This “iron river” of guns, as it has been called, has swollen since the U.S. Congress allowed the federal ban on assault weapons to expire in 2004.(n4) Mexican authorities confiscated an unprecedented 10,579 smuggled weapons in 2005, and they say 90% of them came from the United States.The U.S.
CNN :t
About 1,100 police working with nearly 300 federal agents take on notorious street gang armed vith handguns and Romanian
AK-47. LOS ANGELES — More than a thousand law enforcement officers descended on the homes belonging to key members of a notorious street gang that has defied authorities for decades.

Prosecutors say the Avenues have terrorized a Los Angeles neighborhood for years and preyed on community members, with two named suspects accused of attacking a resident in a parking lot then shooting him to death when he tried to call for help.
ABC NEWS
oct, 2009
As Mexico’s drug war intensified, increasingly powerful weapons from the U.S. are raising the stakes—and the body count.

“Make no mistake about it: Romanian AK-47 firearms are fueling a drug war.” 
– Bill Newell, a Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) special agent
Eighteen months ago, Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels. Since then, more than 4,150 people have died, including 500 policemen and soldiers. Most of them were killed with guns bought in the U.S.
Bill Newell, the ATF’s special agent in charge of the situation, describes an escalating conflict that is increasingly violent, because of CalderÛn’s aggressive attacks on the cartels and because of the ferocity with which they are fighting back.
The steady increase in the firepower of the arsenals—which include long-range assault rifles, grenade launchers, mounted machine guns and a whole host of other hard-hitting weapons—being used in battles between the cartels and Mexican authorities is also taking its toll.

ATENTIE! IMPORTANT! ATENTIE!

DOMNULE ROSCA STANESCU

SENATOAREA DIANNE FEINSTEIN (CLIFORNIA ) INTR-O CUVANTATE IN SENATUL AMERICAN, ADRESATA PRESEDINTELUI USA. VORBESTE DESPRE URIASA AMENINTARE PENTRU AMERICA A ARMELOR ROMANESTI
” INTR-UN SINGUR TRANSPORT PLECAT DIN PORTUL CONSTANTA 8.000 DE ARME AK-47……VOR FI VANDUTE CRIMINALILOR” “ACESTE ARME SUNT ARMELE PREFERATE IMPOTRIVA POLITIEI ” ARMELE ROMANESTI ” $7 million — 8,000 AK-47s.
ESTE CAZUL CA ROMANII SA CUNOASCA OPINIA UNUIA DIN CEI MAI IMPORTANTI OAMENI POLITICI AMERICANI DESPRE ARMELE MAFIEI BASESCU. VA SUGEREZ SA PUBLICATI UN ARTICOL IN ZIARUL ZIUA.
DIN ACEST MOMENT NIMENI NU VA MAI PUTEA SA PUNA SUB SEMNUL
INTREBARII CONTRABANDA CRIMINALA DE ARME.
SPER CA VETI ACORDA TOATA ATENTIE ACESTUI DOCUMENT EXTRAORDINAR. VA DORESC MULT SUCCES.

“In other words, even though craven gun manufacturers tried to evade the ban, those copycat guns did not replace banned guns in equal numbers, at least when traced to crimes. I want to spend a couple of minutes and explain to you about a shipment that was recently found by Italian customs. Some 8,000 AK-47 assault rifles were on their way from the Romanian port of Constanta to New York City, according to press reports and BATF information, apparently bound for a gun store in Georgia by the name of Century International Arms. These guns had a value of more than $7 million — 8,000 AK-47s.
. Though this shipment may very well have been illegal in any case under a 1989 Executive Order, think of one gun store buying 8,000 AK-47s in anticipation of 5 days from today.
Think of where guns like these are going to go. Some are going to go to legitimate gun owners. Others are going to go to gang bangers. They are going to be sold out of the backseats of automobiles and on street corners to criminals. They have become the weapon of choice for those who go up against the police. Mr. President, that is 8,000 AK-47s in one shipment coming into the United States.”
http://feinstein.senate.gov/04Releases/r-awban-floor-stmnt.htm
DIANNE FEINSTEIN ESTE Chairwoman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

As part of its oversight responsibilities, prepares legislation authorizing appropriations for the various civilian and military agencies and departments comprising the Intelligence Community. These entities include the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, as well as the intelligence-related components of Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of the Treasury, and Department of Energy. The Committee makes recommendations to the Senate Armed Services Committee on authorizations for the intelligence-related components of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps. The Committee also conducts periodic investigations, audits, and inspections of intelligence activities and programs.
ROBERT HORVATH ZIARIST USA http://www.devagallery.com
31 octombrie 2009

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Italy Seizes 8,000 Kalashnikovs Headed to U.S.
Reuters ^ | Italy Seizes 8,000 Kalashnikovs Headed to U.S.
– ROMARM AS CUGIR-
ROME (Reuters) – Italian customs officers seized more than 8,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons on a ship headed to the United States, officials said Tuesday. The arms, worth about $7.15 million, were discovered aboard a ship arriving from Romania that pulled into the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro on its way to the United States, Italy’s customs said in a statement. According to the travel documents, the arms belong to a large U.S. company with headquarters in the state of Georgia.
“We know that the destination was North America, but we don’t effectively know if that’s where the arms were going,” a customs official told RAI state television.
The arms were found inside three containers during a routine customs check earlier this week. They were confiscated due to discrepancies in the customs forms, but the news was only made public Tuesday.
The customs office said the weapons had been described as “common guns” instead of assault rifles and longer-range combat arms in the travel documentation. ($1-.8390 Euro)
ROBERT HORVATH- DEVA ZIARIST USA http://www.devagallery.com
1NOIEMBRIE 2009