Over 42,000 customs premises were searched and hundreds of weapons seized as part of a joint operation aimed at trafficking firearms to EU countries through postal services and couriers, Albanian Police informed.

Police operation codenamed "ARMSTRONG VII" took place between November 16-20, with the involvement of the Police and customs authorities from 26 countries, Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, North Macedonia and the United States, with international coordination efforts supported by Europol and the European Commission - DG Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD ) and DG Migration and Home Affairs (HOME) and the Customs Cooperation Party (CCWP). 

During the week of operation, the police and customs authorities in the participating countries conduct extensive checks on suspicious customs premises and postal items. 

This operational phase was preceded by an intelligence phase, in which Europol and DG TAXUD developed risk indicators, including those related to dark network purchases, in order to increase the success levels of parcel controls during the week of operation. 

416 officers were involved in the operation who conducted 42,124 checks. As a result, 6 firearms, 13 pieces of firearms, 600 ammunitions and 297 other weapons (knives, spray, pepper, cards, etc.) were seized.

Support from Europol 

Europol has been actively involved since the beginning of this operation gathering intelligence from all participating partners on firearms and ammunition seized from postal packages from November 2019 to October 2020. This intelligence was used as input for identified risk indicators that were shared with law enforcement. 

During Operation Week, Europol set up a virtual command center and provided a platform for real-time information sharing and cross-intelligence control, creating a communication network involving both police officers and customs authorities.