The report "The Globalization of Crime" confirms that arms from the
United States and that the market has an estimated value of $ 20 million
VIENNA, June 17 .- Some 20,000 firearms each year pass illegally in
the United States to Mexico, said the report "Globalization of
Crime," released today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) in Vienna.
This material, which are often transported across the border between
the U.S. and Mexico by individual smugglers in limited quantities,
has an estimated value of $ 20 million.
In all, the UN experts estimate that in Mexico there are 10 million
unregistered these items, enough to supply one in three adult men.
The UN believes that worldwide trafficking of firearms (including
pistols and machine guns) only affects one percent of those already
in circulation. ( didn't make sense in spanish either)
The illegal international arms market has two foci, one criminal and
one targeted for political purposes, the UNODC said in its report.
Those that arrive in Mexico is usually acquired by proxies in the
estimated 6,700 stores that are on the U.S. side of the border.
(would really like to see what the actual count is)
Due to great competition in the U.S., the prices of guns or machine
guns in this country are very low, unlike Mexico, where is more
regulation. ( machine guns cheap???)
On the other hand, there is a market for political movements,
especially in Africa, supplied from Eastern Europe by supposedly
legal business. ( differentiate politics from crime?)
The most important country of origin of this weapon is Ukraine, which
accounted for 30 percent of the manufacturers of the Soviet Union.
In fact, according to UN data, the Ukraine is the country with more
guns available for active soldier.
These huge reserves, about 7 million units pose a risk to countries
under arms embargo or regional conflict, particularly in Africa, the
report said. Most of these sales are made through seemingly legitimate businesses,
encouraged by corrupt officials who facilitate the necessary papers
and organized by international traffickers and intermediaries, the study adds.
In the absence of reliable data on trafficking, UNODC stresses only
the case of southern Sudan, where in 2007/2008 sold 40 thousand
Kalashnikov machine guns worth 33 million euros.
(would very much dispute that figure, around $900 ea.)
