In Belgium, illegal arms brokers have little to fear

Documents exposing Sierra Leonean arms deal

This 16-page document was first leak to a Reuter’s journalist in Sierra Leone at the end of February 2012, a few days later on the websites of some Sierra Leonean media outlets.

If you’re interested in what’s going on in Belgium, you might want to skip to pages 15 and 16.

In 2003, Belgium adopted a law intended to control arms brokers. This law doesn’t meet the European requirement and, furthermore, has never been applied by the authorities, although the problem was well known.

For almost ten years now, Belgian illegal arms brokers operate under the radar and have nothing to fear from the government. Serge Muller is part of them.

In January, a shipment of thousands of Chinese weapons arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Intended to the paramilitary wing of the police, the firearms raised some questions from the United Nations special envoy.

Serge Muller acted as a broker in the deal, as he did almost 15 years ago, during the civil war. He never asked for any license in Belgium, but has little to fear, as shows a months-long investigation supported by the Fonds Pascal Decroos that will be published in Dutch on Wednesday 25th of July in the Knack, and in French on Thursday 26th of July in Le Vif/L’Express.