Although the Public Ministry (MP) has dismantled organized crime structures dedicated to the theft of firearms, the problem persists, and In 14 months, 1,017 reports of firearms theft were registeredwhich is equivalent to an average of two complaints a day, according to the report of the National Civil Police (PNC).
In 2023, 851 complaints were filed for theft of firearms, according to the PNC. The month with the least amount of complaints was July, with 37. Between January and February of this year, 166 stolen weapons have been reported, for a total of 1,017.
According to police statistics, between January 2023 and February 2024, an average of 50 monthly complaints were received for the theft of firearms; the files are transferred to the Public Ministry (MP). so that investigations can begin and the owner has proof that his weapon was stolen, if in case it is used to commit an illegal act.
Of the weapons seized in 20232,272 had no registrationwhich would be smuggled mainly from Mexico, police investigators say.
The victims
Edwin Monroy, PNC spokesperson, says that the main victims of weapons theft are civilians who display them ostentatiously on public roads, or who leave them in vehicles.
“When individuals enter a shopping center or a bank, criminals take the opportunity to force the doors and steal weapons. They also steal them from the private security agents who guard businesses and in the worst cases they even kill them for taking them away.” the weapons,” Monroy said.
The majority of reports of firearm theft come from the capital and Escuintla, according to police reports. Security experts say this could be because They are departments with greater economic movement and consequently more people carry weapons to protect their property.
According to police reports, in some cases, officers have been stripped of their weapons when they are held by crowds during protests in the province, mainly when residents have rioted and burned police stations.
One of these cases occurred on November 20, 2021 in El Estor, Izabal, when residents took 15 firearms from a group of agents supporting the MP raids, which had to execute 25 arrest warrants. On January 15, 2023, the residents in a public event returned the weapons to the police institution.
Favorites
The complaints filed correspond to the theft of different types of weapons, mainly shotguns and 9 millimeter caliber pistols, the latter being the most stolen, as they are offered in the illegal market at a cost of Q3,500 or Q5,000, says Carlos Aquino, director of GT Tactics and Security and specialist in weapons and ammunition.
Aquino affirms that in the legal market, ammunition for this type of weapon is sold by boxes of 50 units at a cost of Q170. In the black market, costs are “tripled or quintupled”.
Aquino confirms that many of the weapons that are seized are not precisely smuggled from Mexico or other countries, many are legal but are stolen from the owner in Guatemala.
The expert says that a weapon becomes valuable to the criminal because he “uses it or resells it.”
He adds that the black market for weapons has grown so much that guns are sold in parts through social networks.
“They are sold in parts to make them automatic, or to buy the barrel of another weapon to adapt it to the pistol you already have, this of course is totally illegal,” he emphasized.
Requirements
Among the requirements demanded by Digecam for the purchase of a firearm for civil and sporting use are certificates of lack of criminal and police records, as well as proof of employment and income. However, for Aquinas The most important requirements are the practical, theoretical and psychological exams which, according to him, “are correct and necessary.”
The expert considers that the psychological exam is the most difficult test and in part prevents anyone from choosing to have a firearm, although he also regrets that there are gaps in the tests, since whoever fails the exam is not obliged to go to therapy. and you can repeat the test “as many times as necessary to pass it.”
Federico Reyes, an independent consultant on security issues, maintains that many of the illegal weapons that circulate on the streets and that are used to commit crimes were stolen during assaults on trucks that were transporting them from the ports to the armories.
Glaziers
In November 2022, the PNC reported that six individuals were captured and a criminal gang disintegrated. which they called “the glass workers”, who operated in different parts of the capital and Mixco, where they stole firearms and other items found in parked vehicles, mainly in shopping centers.
According to the MP, the criminal structure selected the vehicles parked inside a business or restaurant, then they parked a car next to it so that one of the members of the criminal structure could get out and break the glass of the doors and violate the locks.
They later stole the firearms and other belongings.The thefts of firearms were recorded in parking lots in zones 10, 14, 15,16 of the capital and San Cristóbal, Mixco.
Most thefts were recorded while the owners or occupants of the vehicles were shopping or doing other activities.
The criminals moved in closed vehicles, without license plates or with changed license plates. After using them for a few months, they put them up for sale on social networks or properties, or they simply stopped using them.
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