HomeNewsBriefIn Midst of Gun Control Debate, Bolivia Breaks Up Arm Trafficking Ring
BRIEF

In Midst of Gun Control Debate, Bolivia Breaks Up Arm Trafficking Ring

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 12 DEC 2012 BY ELYSSA PACHICO EN

Bolivian police dismantled an arms trafficking network reportedly run by a former soldier, just as the government is discussing drafting a law that would increase penalties for smuggling weapons.

Police seized 31 weapons as part of the operation, including machine guns, rifles, bazookas, and over 3,600 bullets, reports Bolivian newspaper Los Tiempos. The former soldier who ran the smuggling network trafficked weapons from suppliers in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, the Bolivian minister of government told the newspaper. Two arrests have been made so far and one suspect is still thought to be at large.

Police said they were able to discover the arms smuggling network by tracing the registry numbers of several small arms used during robberies in La Paz. 

The bust comes just as the Bolivian government is discussing a new proposal for a national gun control law, drafted by the Defense Ministry. The proposal asks for a minimum of 30 years in prison for military and police personnel who traffic weapons, according to La Razon. Civilians found guilty of illegally trafficking weapons would receive a sentence of  five to 15 years. 

InSight Crime Analysis

Bolivia currently has no arms and ammunition control law. There have been multiple attempts to pass a national firearms law through Congress since 2002, all of which have failed. The Defense Ministry proposal is just the latest attempt to pressure Congress to take up the issue again. The Defense Ministry is currently in charge of regulating Bolivia's weapons industry, although its regulations have been criticized as lax.

This lack of controls has made Bolivia vulnerable to arms trafficking. In 2010, US authorities arrested two men, including a US citizen and a Bolivian, accused of conspiring to traffic firearms bought in Florida gun stores to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Santa Cruz is a well-known hotbed for criminal activity, and has served as a shelter for Colombian and Brazilian criminal groups. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ARGENTINA / 25 OCT 2022

Bolivia's cocaine trade is on the up. Originally a coca leaf cultivator, Bolivia has moved to cocaine production.

ARGENTINA / 26 APR 2022

Authorities in Chile are sounding the alarm over repeated seizures of small quantities of arms being trafficked through Argentina, especially…

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 28 JUN 2022

In its latest bid to curb the flow of illegal firearms and ensuing violence, Jamaica has turned to the United…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…