Arms Trafficking

Abstract

Trafficking in arms and weapons material is, perhaps, one of themost notorious forms of organised crime. Fuelled by both the movieindustry as well as real world examples, criminal organisations are widely believed to engage in the trafficking of firearms and weaponsmaterial, including nuclear material. This illicit trade is furtherfacilitated by corruption and other forms of collusion with government entities as well as by links between the criminal elements andthe arms industry.As part of a joint teaching programme on transnational organisedcrime, students from the Universities of Queensland, Vienna andZurich researched the topic of arms trafficking in a year-long course.Some of their academic papers are compiled in this volume, addressingtopics ranging from international and national legal frameworks tolevels and characteristics of this phenomenon in selected places, andenforcement and industry measures adopted to prevent and suppressthis illicit trade.