Overview
- Police special unit Ferrum has opened more than 600 investigations, checked over 3,800 vehicles and 866 businesses, and temporarily detained about 280 people as part of the operation.
- Prosecutors’ Telum team has taken on 197 cases and filed 11 indictments, and courts had issued 68 arrest warrants as of 13 August with more than 50 suspects in pretrial detention.
- Officials link the surge in cases to greater availability of illicit pistols from illegal factories in the Czech Republic and imports from Turkey plus documented conversion of blank-firing guns into live weapons.
- Authorities warn perpetrators are getting younger and are often recruited online, a change that officials say raises the risk of quick escalations in street conflicts.
- Police and prosecutors describe the response as a long-term effort that combines personnel increases, mass checks and targeted operations to cut weapon flows and dismantle organized-crime networks.