Illegal arms trade still a major problem in Netherlands: report

Efforts to stamp out the trade in illegal arms in the Netherlands seem to be ineffective, according to a National Threat Report the police did for the College of Attorneys General. Large numbers of heavy firearms remain in circulation and are increasingly used by criminals, the report states, according to nOS.

The police are concerned about the increasing use of semi- and automatic firearms, such as Kalashnikovs and scorpions, in not only assassinations, but in other crimes as well. Recently criminals threatened local residents with a machine gun during an ATM bombing, a coffeeshop was targeted in a drive-by shooting and automatic firearms were used in a jewelry store robbery, according to the report. With this the risk to citizens and police officers increases.

A significant proportion of the illegal firearms in the Netherlands come from the Balkans, the report states. Open borders make it easy to smuggle these weapons into other countries. And according to the police, there is little view on the brokers who sell the weapons in the Netherlands.

Many guns also come from Slovakia, where disarmed firearms are sold as souvenirs. Criminals then re-arm the weapons. An estimated 10 thousand such weapons were sold from a single Slovakian store, 200 of which have been found in the Netherlands.

The so-called dark web is also a popular market place for illegal firearms. Guns are sometimes sent in the mail in parts, after which the criminals assemble them themselves. There is hardly any control on mail packages.

Police chief Dick Schouten, responsible for tackling illegal firearms in the Netherlands, calls for "unambiguous European legislation" on firearms trade. This spring the European Parliament agreed to new guidelines, but weapons can still be sold in many countries, he said to NOS.