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Irish-Qhobosheane, Jenni. 2021 ‘Cross-border Trade.’ How to Silence the Guns? Southern Africa's Illegal Firearms Markets, pp. 11-15. Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, Geneva. 19 October

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Cross-border trade

Before 1994, firearm smuggling routes across South African borders were used mainly by political actors but after that, criminals began to take over some of these smuggling routes, particularly those along Mozambique's borders, which historically played a significant role in the smuggling of weapons into South Africa. Initially this black market trade was about the sale of small numbers of firearms, often in exchange for food or other commodities, but it soon grew into an organized business. In 1995, the South African government, together with its Mozambican counterpart, launched Operation Rachel, which aimed to collect and destroy illegal weapons circulating in Mozambique. Speaking about the importance of the operation for South Africa, the country's then national commissioner of police, Jackie Selebi, said, 'The destruction of these arms caches in Mozambique, with the assistance of the South African Police, is part of our mandate to maintain law and order within South Africa.' Operation Rachel ran from 1996 to 2003, during which time 611 arms caches comprising more than 34 903 weapons and 11.4 million rounds of ammunition were found and destroyed. While most weapons seized during the programme were rifles, handguns, submachine guns and mortars were also among items seized.

Year: 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - Total

Handguns: 8 - 13 - 79 - 353 - 453 - 18 - 372 - 101 - 45 - 1,442
SMGs: 91 - 68 - 980 - 735 - 1,874 - 126 - 467 - 346 - 235 - 4,922
Rifles: 981 - 355 - 4,345 - 3,183 - 8,864 - 2,205 - 2,943 - 2,072 - 1,302 - 26,250
LMGs/HMGs: 47 - 52 - 279 - 467 - 845 - 66 - 148 - 47 - 1 - 1,952
Mortars: 15 - 44 - 35 - 21 - 115 - 70 - 32 - 5 - 0 - 337
Ammunition: 23,153 - 136,639 - 3,000,000 - 155,314 - 3,315,106 - 83,276 - 486,000 - 2,004,018 - 2,200,000 - 11,403,506

[SMG = Sub-machine gun]
[LMG = Light machine gun]
[HMG = Heavy machine gun]

ID: Q14656

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