Interpol fears weapons sent to Ukraine will fall into hands of criminals

Interpol on Wednesday expressed concern that weapons sent to Ukraine could fall into the hands of criminals in Europe and beyond, and urged countries to be careful about tracking them.

"The unprecedented availability of weapons during the current conflict may lead to a proliferation of illegal weapons in the post-conflict phase," Jürgen Stock, Director General of INTERPOL, told the British-American Association of Journalists in Paris.

He added that "criminals at this moment are planning this", and considered that the European Union may be a possible destination for these weapons because "their already high prices on the black market are much higher in Europe, especially in the Scandinavian countries."

Ukraine's allies have supplied its armed forces with tons of military equipment, to support it in its attempt to repel the Russian offensive three months ago.

"We will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced missile systems and ammunition, which will allow them to more accurately hit key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine," US President Joe Biden announced Tuesday.

But "even heavy weapons used by the army may reach the black market," Stock warned.

"We encourage (Interpol) member states to use the common knowledge base we have on weapons because no single country can deal with them," he said. "The criminals I'm talking about operate on an international level, so these weapons will move across continents," he added.

Stock said that the conflict in Ukraine had caused "large thefts of fertilizers, in addition to an increase in fraudulent agricultural chemicals, due to the high demand for them... It also led to an increase in fuel thefts in Europe."