Montenegro to Clamp Down on Arms Smugglers

Police in Montenegro have tightened security on the border to prevent arms smuggling after a new report said that some weapons used by ISIS come from the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

"The Police Administration has raised the level of its activities in coordination with other security and intelligence services to undertake concrete actions... relating to the prevention of terrorism," police spokesperson Tamara Popovic told BIRN on Tuesday.

Research carried out by the human rights organisation Amnesty International says that assault weapons and small arms sent from Bosnia and Serbia to Britain may have ended up in the hands of the militant Islamist group.

The report released on Monday said that ISIS fighters are using ammunition manufactured in 21 countries, including Serbia.

In November, The New Yorker magazine published analysis suggesting that the preferred weapons of European terrorists, Kalashnikovs, came from Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

It said that after years of war in the Balkans, gunrunners began to transport leftover explosives and rocket-propelled grenades to Western Europe, where they could be sold at higher prices.

Police reports after the Paris terror attack on November 13, which killed 130 people, said the terrorists used a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Monday, Western Balkan officials said they are looking at creating a network of experts to help tackle the illicit trade in weapons from the region, amid
concerns after the Paris attacks that guns are falling into the hands of militant Islamists.

Popovic said that Montenegrin police already communicate with partner agencies of other countries to "exchange relevant information" on...