After the drug, this is the most lucrative business in the world. How does it work?

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, illegal arms trade circulates from $170 to $320 million annually in the world. These figures represent 10 ʹ 20% of legal trade.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, large numbers of weapons were not used or left out of control, which facilitated their sale at reduced prices.

The scope of some countries to place barriers to import and export, corruption at government levels and technological advances ( email banking, internet etc) as well as thefts promoted the black market.

The consequences of this illegal trade are tragic; each year more than half a million people die from violence exercised by this illegal weapon. Of the 15 million weapons that circulate in Mexico 13 million - 85 million - belong to trafficking.

How do international laws and agreements manage to overcome this type of material?

Lora Lumpe, analyst and arms trafficking, says that there are two key points in the black market of light arms: arms corridors, people in charge of finding vendors and buyers, funders and guarantors to reach an agreement, and the other side are transport agents who find vehicles, loading people and taking the goods to their destination. /Bota/