2.8 Firearms Trafficking

2.8

Firearms Trafficking

International definition of trafficking in firearms:

“The import, export, acquisition, sale, delivery, movement or transfer of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition from or across the territory of one State Party to that of another State Party if any one of the States Parties concerned does not authorize it in accordance with the terms of this Protocol or if the firearms are not marked in accordance with article 8 of this Protocol” (Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition of 2001, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Article 3, Paragraph E)

Applicable domestic laws in Thailand:

Controlling Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, Fireworks and Imitation of Firearms Act of 1947; Penal Code; Criminal Procedure Code.

The stakeholders interviewed reported that many unregistered firearms had been found in the country, suggesting an illegal trade in weapons within the black markets of northern Thailand.

When firearms trade is conducted by criminal groups of multiple nationalities, these transactions clearly qualify as TOC. There is evidence of well-established links between firearms and drug traffickers along the Thai-Myanmar border, where drug producers from Myanmar sell or barter drugs in exchange for firearms.

Thailand is primarily a transit country for light weapons smuggled from Cambodia, China and North Korea to Myanmar. Some firearms from Cambodia are moved through eastern Thailand and delivered to insurgents based in Myanmar. However, most light weapons used by insurgent minority groups in Myanmar are from China and to a lesser extent from North Korea.215

215 Jane’s Intelligence Review. (2001). Light Arms Trading in SE Asia. RAND blog. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/ blog/2001/03/lightarms-trading-in-se-asia.html