The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), through its Global Firearms Programme, organized a two-day study tour and meeting of the Communities of Criminal Justice Practitioners Fighting Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Central Asia in Bucharest, Romania, on 25-26 March 2025. The event brought together criminal justice practitioners from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to strengthen regional and international cooperation in combating illicit firearms trafficking.
Held in collaboration with Romania’s General Inspectorate of Police and its National Firearms Focal Point (NFFP), the study tour provided participants with in-depth insights into institutional mechanisms for addressing SALW trafficking. Discussions covered key areas such as mutual legal assistance in cases related to organized crime and terrorism, forensic approaches to firearms investigations, and the role of Romania’s NFFP in countering firearms-related challenges and threats.
Mr. Bogdan Ungureanu, representing Romania’s NFFP at the General Inspectorate of Police, opened the discussion by emphasizing the need for swift intelligence-sharing among law enforcement agencies, stating, "Information about firearms should travel faster than firearms."
Over the two days, participants engaged in expert-led sessions and visited the Romanian National Forensics Institute, where they gained hands-on experience with advanced investigative techniques used in firearms-related cases. On the second day, participants visited the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC), located at the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest. The visit provided participants with a comprehensive overview of SELEC’s mission, structure, operational mechanisms, and capabilities in combating transnational crime, including serious and organized crime in the region.
