NABIS visit Istanbul
Friday, 23 May, 2014
Staff from NABIS – The National Ballistics Intelligence Service – attended an international conference recently to share their expertise about firearms tracing.
The event in Istanbul earlier this month (May) was arranged to encourage other countries to adopt the world class standards which forces in the UK enjoy.
Head of NABIS, Detective Chief Superintendent Iain O’Brien, said: “NABIS was asked to attend the conference to explain how forces around the world can better work across borders and share information to solve gun crime. Firearms tracing involves close co-operation among law enforcement, customs and border control agencies internationally.”
Launched at the start of 2013, iARMS which currently contains more than 288,000 records provided by nearly 100 countries, provides a centralised system for the reporting and querying of lost, stolen, trafficked and smuggled firearms by all 190 INTERPOL member countries.
Firearms tracing is the systematic tracking of a firearm found or seized, from the point of manufacture or the point of legal importation into a country, through the lines of supply to the last known point of possession.
Firearm tracing can:
- Link a suspect to a firearm in a criminal investigation;
- Identify potential firearm traffickers;
- Detect firearm crime trends.
The tracing of illicit firearms is crucial component of the international strategy and framework to combat the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.
The trip was part funded by OSCE – The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - who are part of the United Nations.
