AAN World News: Inside The World of Tanoa's Black Market Arms Ring

[J. Hill]

AAN: Inside The World of Tanoa's Black Market Arms Ring

Black Markets, whether it's for drugs, hired services or firearms have been around since the dark ages, where there is restriction there is always someone providing the restricted product. In the modern day we have seen sites like the Silk Road appear, selling premium narcotics for affordable prices by trusted buyers. In Asia it is no different to European and American black markets, however a cross-national police Task Force has investigated the active ring that spans across multiple territories in Asia and Oceania. Notably; China, The Horizon Islands, Vietnam and Thailand have been host to a majority of illegal trade in the region since early 2016. The transaction of funds has evolved from cash to crypto currencies, arguably making the tracking of transactions harder or easier depending on the recipient. There are multiple ways for criminals to cover their tracks in the crypto space, however the customers they are selling to are variable in how they cover their own digital paper trail.

Due to those chinks in the armour, the Task-Force have detained a total of 72 people, 22 sellers, 42 customers and 8 site hosts. Despite this hit to the ring, it tragically does not even scratch the surface. Sales have been estimated to be in the tens of thousands of items every day. To nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil and more. Entities such as the U.S DEA, UK NCA and others have aided the Task-Force by providing information and organizing false transactions to get a breadcrumb on the location of buyers as well as site hosts. Criminal organizations however hinder the operations massively, due to their majority hand in these drugs being in circulation; gangs and cartels often spot the fish hook before they snag it. An incident in 2019 occurred on the Horizon Island of Tanoa, where Tanoan Gendarmerie organized a sting to apprehend a dealer, however the sting turned to massacre when members of the Lance Rouge (Red Spear) tracked the vehicles Gendarmerie were standing by in, ready to detain the dealer. The gang members fired upon the waiting policemen, the Transit van the team were standing by in was disabled from the ricochet and the police inside were tragically all killed. Lance Rouge claimed the attack later on the same day. Since the incident the gang has had a major hand on the arms trade within the Horizon Islands. Local police have been noted to steer clear of known Lance Rogue locations of activity to prevent skirmishes that may result in civilian casualties. The Horizon Islands government has considered mobilizing elements of the Tanoan Defence Force (TDF) to enforce civil order however it was denied in parliament, whether by fear or corruption the gang has been left to its own devices.

National Flag of the Horizon Islands

The arms trade has been circulating out of Tanoa primarily for the last three years. Import of American made arms such as the M4 Platform have been spotted as recently as 2022, how the sellers acquired them is largely unknown. It has been suspected that the arms have come in from American citizens opening a network from the U.S however the likely indicator is the leftover surplus from Afghanistan, due to ongoing border skirmishes between Iran and Takistan the Taliban-controlled nation has grown drastically low on funds, due to allocation of funds to public sectors and defense budgeting, despite already using a majority of leftover arms, the Taliban Government have been seen selling off their vast collection to acquire funding likely to be reused in their defense forces by form of newer equipment and systems. As of June, gangs across Asia, such as Lance Rouge have been seen arming themselves with modern issue firearms and equipment. Similar to South American cartels. The gangs across Asia have been a highlighted concern by their host governments, Singapore have cracked down on crime by further arming to combat a possible influx of illegal sales by gangs. Thailand has already cracked down on gang activity but overall are prepared to reinforce. The only outstanding nation in the crackdown is the Horizon Islands. The Oceania based cluster of islands have seen very little development in police and security forces while gangs are on the rise, private companies have bought into the aid of security services such as Onyx Alpha.