At 10:00 on Saturday 1 December,  over 1,100 guns will be destroyed in the smelter in Banja Luka removing these weapons from the streets for ever.

Law enforcement agencies working with the South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC) have collected 1,135 guns and 1,276 component parts from a series of operations across Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 10 months and today we see them being destroyed and removed for ever.

This is part of an ongoing programme funded by the European Union against cross-border, major and organized crime focusing on the fight against illegal manufacturing and proliferation of weapons and their component parts.

A new roadmap which targets a solution to the illegal possession, and trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and their ammunition in the Western Balkans, has been launched.

Official statistics for BiH suggest that there are some 16,000 tons of weapons and approximately 40,000 weapons that remain illegally in the public domain.

These weapons pose a significant threat to the security of the country and need to be eradicated.