Iraq: Government proceeds to centralize arms in state hands without reversal

The head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell, Major General Saad Maan, said today that the government is proceeding with the consolidation of weapons under state control, with no possibility of reversal.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced today, Friday, the “Iraqi National Weapons Bank Status Report” for last July, as part of measures to regulate and consolidate weapons in state hands.

Assistant to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Police Affairs and Secretary of the Weapons Consolidation Committee, Major General Mansour Ali Sultan, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that “the report included the seizure and confiscation of weapons, equipment, and explosive materials, as well as the registration of citizens’ weapons and those of state institution visitors.”

He clarified that “the number of seized and confiscated weapons reached 2,797 weapons of various types, while the number of confiscated equipment items totaled 16,616 pieces in different calibers, in addition to the confiscation of 325 rockets and grenades, and 1,072 pieces of various types of explosive materials.”