Over 140,000 weapons confiscated in Yemen

SANA'A, June 30 (Saba)- The number of weapons confiscated during the past ten months in Yemen reached approximately 140,000 pieces
of weapons and 205 shops for selling weapons were shut down in the last few days.

Well-informed sources said on Saturday that security services arrested in the last
days 148 persons involved in weapons trafficking throughout Yemen.

Yemen began last August a nationwide campaign to enforce a ban on carrying weapons
in cities, seizing over 140,000 weapons at checkpoints outside the capital Sana'a
and other main cities.

The ban, that includes bodyguards of high-ranking officials, legislators and
influential tribal chieftains, is aimed at reducing the visibility of arms that
discourage tourism and investments in the country.

Police officials have said the campaign helped decrease the rate of domestic crimes
by 40% during the last four months of 2007.

In 2005, the government embarked on a scheme to collect heavy weapons from tribal
communities or arms traders, spending $44m to buy back weapons. The effort,
however, floundered
as a result of inadequate funding.

Unofficial estimates put the number of firearms in circulation in Yemen at about 60
million.

A UN-sponsored small arms survey, released last August, concluded that Yemenis own between six and 17 million firearms.