Aug. 31, 2006: #1

This came from W a while ago and I forgot to post it. Sorry, W; I get hung up in eyelashes, sometimes (which for those who have not been subjected to drawing classes lately, refers to the tendency to concentrate overly on tiny details to the detriment of the whole -- guilty as described.)



UK imports over 100,000 AK-47 rifles , Antony Barnett and Mark Townsend, Sunday June 25, 2006, Observer

The staggering number of AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles being imported into Britain has been revealed for the first time by new figures obtained by The Observer. Details of import licences granted by the Department of Trade and Industry between March and June 2005 reveal that arms firms were given approval to import 250,000 automatic weapons, including at least 100,000 AK-47s.

Many are believed to have come from the Balkans. AK-47s are not used by the British army and it is feared the guns could be exported to war zones or end up in the hands of criminals. [....]

Amnesty, which will release a report on the international trade in AK-47s this week, claims the US Defence Department used chains of arms brokers to channel weapons to allies and military groups across the globe. It has already suggested that three UK firms had imported a consignment of 20,000 AK-47s in June 2005 from Bosnia.

However, this allegation is denied by the directors of those firms, who claim that the rifles were imported to the UK to be decommissioned, with the approval of the Home Office, the DTI and the Security Service. [....]

More here

Along with this came some photos of the intended users.