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The shipment was made in sealed containers, its value was incorrectly marked and it was incorrectly lodged in the EU register (Photo: dawvon)

Italy-Libya arms deal shows weakness of EU code

by Andrew Rettman, Brussels,

An Italian company's sale of over 11,000 pistols and rifles to Libya in late 2009 has highlighted weaknesses in the EU's arms control regime and the dangers of selling guns to difficult countries.

EUobserver and arms-control NGO Rete Italiana per il Disarmo have learned that on 29 November 2009 Italian company Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta quietly shipped €7,936,900 of small arms from the port of La Spezia in Italy via Malta to Tripoli.

The deal did not break any laws because the...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

The shipment was made in sealed containers, its value was incorrectly marked and it was incorrectly lodged in the EU register (Photo: dawvon)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

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