How did Italian bullets end up in Myanmar despite EU Arms Embargo?

Elena Siniscalco – Fonte: ©Mizzima
06 maggio 2021

In North Okkalapa, Yangon, on the 3rd of March 2021, Myanmar police fired live bullets at a civilian ambulance.

As the aftermath of the event was recorded, a witness held up one of the bullets to show the camera. Discernible on the bullet was a name: Cheddite.[…]

However, Giorgio Beretta, an arms trade analyst from the Permanent Observatory on Small Arms and Security and Defense Policies (OPAL), did know where to look and was able to provide an explanation using information available in the public domain.

Beretta first consulted the Italian Ministry of Defence’s register of arms exporting companies to find Cheddite first registered with the Italian Government body in 2014. However, they have never made a request for any type of licence from the relevant state authority- the Unit for the Authorization of Armament Materials (UAMA). […]