More than 80 raids took place across Europe in a crackdown on illegal firearms trafficking, leading to 1,776 weapons being seized.
The international operation involving Europe’s crime agency Europol, was aimed at Turkish-manufactured weapons illegally trafficked into the EU via Bulgaria and other countries.
Operation Bosphorus was set up and led by Romanian police and involved 24 countries, including the UK, France and the Netherlands, “to tackle the increase in weapons illegally transformed and traded”, Europol said.
"Authorities collected data and conducted intelligence analysis of the buyers and sellers of firearms this year to enable a series of investigations and activities on a national level," Europol said.
“Between November 2 and 11 the year-long operation was concluded by joint action days.
"During the span of the action days, police officers from Albania, Greece, Portugal and Romania carried out 81 house searches."
The operation led to 11 arrests, 3,714 cartridges of ammunition and 164 pieces of pyrotechnics being seized, along with 1,776 firearms.
The security services gathered intelligence from buyers of weapons in the EU from Bulgarian arms dealers.
“In recent years, alarm and signal weapons have become extremely popular among criminals and feature in considerable figures in firearm trafficking and seizure cases,” Europol said.
“This is due to the fact that they can be easily converted into lethal weapons and are cheaper to procure.
“Europol plays a key role in supporting member states fighting criminal networks involved in illegal weapons and explosives trafficking. As part of a wider strategy to identify the criminal networks supplying terrorist groups with firearms and ammunition, Europol experts work closely with counter-terrorism experts on international investigations.”
The raids came just days after police smashed a criminal ring of arms dealers transporting weapons to war zones.
Last week, Spanish police arrested seven suspects after breaking up an arms trafficking gang that was illegally shipping tanks to conflict zones in North Africa and the Middle East.
The gang – including Spaniards, Ukrainians and Latvians – hid the smuggled Russian-made munitions in legal consignments of weapons. They were sent by ship through the Mediterranean to conflict hot spots.
The sophisticated criminal operation stretched to springing a ship’s captain from a Greek prison after he was arrested for arms smuggling, Europol said.
The criminals made millions of dollars from the operation selling tanks and other munitions, with the proceeds laundered through tax havens and back into legal businesses in Spain.
But the organisation came to the attention of the authorities during a bitter internal feud over who controlled the maritime smuggling routes.
The operation, involving police and tax officials from Spain working alongside Europol, led to the seizure of 18 properties worth about €10 million ($11.8m).
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)
Man of the match Harry Kane
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
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The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh12 million
Engine 8.0-litre quad-turbo, W16
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch auto
Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm
Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202-litre%20direct%20injection%20turbo%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%207-speed%20automatic%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20261hp%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20400Nm%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20From%20Dh134%2C999%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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