INTERPOL Operation Trigger III – Sahel Workshop
From 4 to 8 September 2017 , the INTERPOL Firearms Programme in collaboration with the INTERPOL Counter-terrorism Directorate and UNODC conducted a workshop for Operation Trigger III – Sahel in Algiers, Algeria. The meeting was attended by participants from Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chad, Benin, Mauritania and Cameroon.
Funded by the European Union, the INTERPOL Illicit Arms Records and tracing Management System (iARMS) is a platform that facilitates information exchange and investigative cooperation between law enforcement agencies in relation to the international movement of illicit firearms. Countries are encouraged to upload records of lost and stolen firearms in iARMS. Consequently, in the case of a recovered firearm, the database is queried and the country can identify when and where the firearm was diverted into illegal possession. Should the query does not generate a positive result, the user can send a request to the country of manufacture, country of last legal import (if marked on the firearm) and to any country that may be connected to the case.