Cashing in on Guns: Identifying the Nexus between Small Arms, Light Weapons and Terrorist Financing

This report presents the main findings of ICCT’s year-long research project on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) as a source of terrorism financing. Chapters 2 and 3 take a regional focus and explore this phenomenon in respectively West Africa and the Middle East. Chapter 4 then investigates the possible role that DDR programmes can play in reducing SALW flows. Chapter 5 assesses the existing legal and policy frameworks from a multitude of angles. Chapter 6 reflects on the short and long-term implications the possession and identified use of SALW by terrorist groups has for Europe. The final chapter considers the various direct and indirect ways through which terrorists are ‘Cashing in on Guns’, and lists a number of policy recommendations for the EU to take a step forward in addressing this phenomenon. 

Download the full publication here.

Other reports in the series include:

• ICCT Situation Report: The Use of SALW by Terrorist Organisations as a Source of Finance in the Middle East and North Africa. Read the report here.
• ICCT Situation Report: The Use of SALW by Terrorist Organisations as a Source of Finance in South and Southeast Asia. Read the report here.
• ICCT Situation Report: The Use of SALW by Terrorist Organisations as a Source of Finance in West Africa and the Horn of Africa. Read the report here.
• Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Trafficking, Smuggling, and Use for Criminality by Terrorists and Insurgents: A Brief Historical Overview. Read the report here.
• The Use of Small Arms and Light Weapons by Terrorist Organisations as a Source of Finance Synthesis Report. Read the report here.

This project was completed with funding by the European Union's Internal Security Fund - Police, under the call Ref. Ares(2019)6410895 - 16/10/2019 and under the Grant Agreement Number 878484 — CRAAFT — ISFP-2018-AG-CT/ISFP-2018-AG-CT-TERFIN.