Police across South America arrested nearly 4,000 suspects and confiscated some 200,000 illicit firearms, ammunition, explosives and components in a massive operation targeting arms trafficking, Interpol said on Tuesday.

As the world is eagerly awaiting a vaccine to stop the spread of the coronavirus, some international agencies warn of its possible weaponization and misuse and predict that criminal networks will target storage facilities and distribution networks as soon as vaccines move closer to delivery.

Serbianpolice arrested last week an Instagram star and her friend after officers found a significant amount of weapons and ammunition in their apartments in Novi Sad.

Violating an international arms embargo, companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia - also known as the Czechoslovak Group - have knowingly supplied Azerbaijan with weapons, claims anInvestigace report that was published this week.

A Russian military court sentenced on Friday a formerFederal Security Service (FSB) official to 4.5 years in prison for torturing a businessman, Russian mediareported.

 German authorities will launch an investigation into media reports claiming the US flew weapons for Syrian rebels through the Ramstein air base behind Germany’s back.

Two Buddhist monks were arrested after police found more than four million methamphetamine pills worth about US$ 6 million, hand grenades and ammunition in their car and monastery, authorities announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Bulgaria have opened an investigation after munitions produced in the Balkan country were reportedly found in Syria.

Spanish police announced Monday the arrest of 30 people involved in a transnational group that sold refitted guns from Eastern Europe over the Internet.

Prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday accused an Italian journalist of faking an investigative report that purportedly showed him purchasing weapons from arms smugglers in Sarajevo.

An Armenian court freed a Russian citizen on Monday who had been detained on the request of the United States on accusations of money laundering and illegally transferring military technology.

An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and partner the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) revealing Central and Eastern European arms exports to the Middle East has sparked debate in Germany, with the opposition questioning Berlin’s own role in the trade.

The European Union’s foreign policy unit is monitoring the flow of weapons to the Middle East and into the hands of Islamist groups in Syria, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), following an investigation by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).

Serbian Prime Minister Aleskandar Vucic has defended the country’s burgeoning arms exports to Saudi Arabia, in response to revelations that the country sold millions of dollars’ worth of arms that likely ended up with Syrian rebels.

State prosecutors have indicted a Bosnian man and six associates on allegations they smuggled dozens of firearms from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia and Germany.

The Italian Carabinieri, in cooperation with Europol, arrested two leading members of the "Ceusi" crime gang for international military weapons trafficking. According to Europol, the gang has links to the Cosa Nostra crime group.

Military analysts have again identified Balkan-made arms in the hands of Syrian rebel groups, OCCRP’s partner center BIRN reported. The weapons appear to originate from both Serbia and Bulgaria.

Sixty-nine homes and offices across Europe were raided and nine suspects were arrested in connection with online forums that were used for illegal operations, according to a news release from German police on Monday.  

Hoping to reduce the number of illegal arms and explosives in private possession, Montenegrin police have launched an amnesty program for people to return or register illegal weapons.

Organized crime gangs in the Western Balkans are cooperating with criminal French counterparts to smuggle weapons, according to Bosnia's security minister.