Old Argentinian-made weapon seized in Paraguay during massive Interpol operation

The massive operation against arms trafficking “Trigger VI”, coordinated by INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), was launched in March in 13 South American countries and In just three weeks, it led to the arrest of 4,000 suspects and the seizure of some 200,000 illegal firearms, parts, components, ammunition and explosives of various types.

For Ricardo Villegas Pávez, one of the coordinators of the international effort, the importance of cooperation between countries to end an international crime that “It does not respect borders, it has production, transit and distribution areas” which do not take into account “traditional approaches based on national sovereignty”.

“The only thing that is effective against this global threat is a global response from affected countries.. In this, Interpol plays a fundamental role by creating coordination channels to fight organized crime. No country on its own, however powerful, will be able to fight against organized crime, ”he said.

INTERPOL distributed numerous images of the seized material Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela during the operation, in an attempt to show the quantity and diversity of weapons present in the region.

In one of these images, corresponding to an operation carried out in Asunción, Paraguay, we can see a peculiarity: an old FMK-3/5 submachine gun, of Argentinian design and manufacture, which is still used by the police and the armed forces of that country, and which usually appears in the hands of criminals.

According to a report from the Paraguayan portal Last hour, the FMK-3 (wrongly identified as a Beretta) belonged to two Brazilian citizens, Cleberson Vasques Acosta and Thaiano Flores Carvallo, who were arrested on March 23 in the Paraguayan capital and whoIt is suspected that they are part of the Brazilian criminal organization “Comando Vermelho”.

Find Argentinian-made guns held by Brazilian criminal gangs This is not new: at least Since the 1990s, numerous appearances of FAL rifles, Pam-1 and Pam-1 submachine guns, as well as the aforementioned FMK-3, have been reported in the country’s favelas and at the hands of criminals.

All these weapons were developed by the Argentine company Fabricaciones Militares Sociedad del Estado (FMSE) to supply the Armed Forces and Security Forces of that country. In the case of the FMK-3, it has been produced since 1974 in the “Domingo Matheu” military portable weapons factory, in the city of Rosario, until its closure in 1996, according to data from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Arms Sales Monitoring Project.

It is a sturdy and reliable 9x19mm caliber submachine gun capable of firing 650 rounds per minute, with a loaded weight of 4.2 kilograms and a length with an extended stock of around 69 centimeters, according to the Center for city ​​ballistic studies (CEsBA). from Rosario. It uses 20 and 40 round magazines and has an effective range of 100 meters.

There is also a visually similar FMK-5 version that was intended for the civilian market and was very popular with private security companies. In order to be able to be sold to private individuals, this weapon has been adapted for semi-automatic shooting. It is not entirely clear whether the specimen seized in Paraguay is an FMK-3, product of one of the many thefts from Argentinian army barracks that have taken place over the past decades, or an FMK-5 that ended up on the black market.

In all, at least 30,000 FMK-3 were reportedly manufactured in 1991, according to data collected by the FAS.

Very popular in the police and armed forces of Argentina, and exported to Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador and Uruguay, its official use has declined in recent years. On the contrary, we see it more and more in the power of criminal gangs in Argentina and in the region.

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