How do terrorists get hold of military weapons? 'In Belgium, fighting illegal arms trafficking is not a priority' says weapons expert

1. How does a perpetrator get hold of a military weapon?

"The investigation is still ongoing, but we assume that the perpetrator acquired his weapon illegally sourcing it on the criminal market," says Duquet. You can, of course, also buy weapons legally in Belgium, but it is unlikely that the perpetrator was able to obtain a gun licence. "That is a long procedure," says Duquet. "There is first a check to ensure that the buyer has not been convicted of certain criminal offences and checks are also carried out to ascertain whether the police have any damaging information on the person."

2. Are there many illegal weapons to be found in our country?

According to Duquet, a lot of weapons can be found on the illegal market in Belgium. "The weapon used by the perpetrator is an AR-15, which is a semi-automatic or automatic assault rifle. There are many variants of this, so it is still unclear whether it was the semi- or fully automatic variant."

Such a weapon is highly sought after for committing attacks, says Duquet, because it allows a terrorist to make many victims in a short period of time. "But it is striking that the perpetrator could get hold of such a weapon, because they are not common on the illegal market in Belgium."

The big problem is that no one knows exactly how many illegal weapons are in circulation. "Actually, the police don't even know exactly how many weapons they confiscate each year and in what context," he says.

What Duquet does know with certainty is that this number has increased in recent years. And especially in big cities like Brussels, Antwerp and Liege. "Because of drug crime, there is a lot of demand for these kinds of weapons. Moreover, it's not only serious criminals who get hold of these kinds of weapons these days, but also more minor ones."

3. Where do these weapons come from?

These weapons come into our country in many different ways. "A large number come from the former Yugoslavia. These weapons are still in circulation more than 20 years after the conflict and are smuggled into our country."

But there are also other sources. "Weapons stolen from legal gun owners, for example, weapons that were once put beyond use and are again converted so they can be used to shoot. Alarm guns can also be converted into shooting weapons," Duquet says. "Lately, people have also started ordering individual parts through the post which they then put together to make their own weapon. And more and more 3D printed weapons are also appearing".

4. How is this illegal arms trade being countered?

"That is not a priority in Belgium," says Duquet. "In Europe, more and more European collaborations are being set up, but not in Belgium. You can see that in the way dossiers are delt with. When drugs are caught and firearms are present, a lot of attention goes to the drugs, to find out where they come from. But the firearm itself is investigated much less."

However, that can be done by tracing the serial number. "In this way, you can map out the network that brings these weapons here. But the responsible departments have too few people, too few resources, too little support to take initiatives, so they can't support the local police sufficiently either. That is a blind spot."