Ara Fidanyan, Armenia’s liaison officer at Europol, recently took part in the first joint workshop for law enforcement agencies and private sector representatives dedicated to weapons and ammunition tracing, organised in Prague under the European Union’s EMPACT programme – the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats.

Representatives of law enforcement bodies from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Malta, Kosovo and Switzerland also attended the event.

According to Armenia’s Interior Ministry, participants discussed the need to trace civilian ammunition in order to help solve firearm-related crimes and prevent the illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition.

The workshop also examined technical possibilities for marking ammunition to ensure traceability.

As part of the programme, participants visited the globally recognised arms manufacturers Sellier & Bellot and Česká zbrojovka (CZ) to familiarise themselves with production processes and ammunition marking technologies used at the facilities.