The bulk of illegal arms and ammunition comes from military conflict zones, especially in the North Caucasus, and as a result of theft at various weapon manufacturing facilities throughout Russia.
"According to some estimates, [Russian] citizens illegally possess a large amount of small arms," said Alexei Savin, a deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Interior Ministry.
He said police conducted 56 sting operations during 10M06 and seized more than 7,500 small arms, 308 hand grenades and landmines, more than 120 kilograms of explosives, and over 73,000 rounds of ammunition.
He also said that as of November 1, 2006, more than 199,000 small arms, including 69,000 rifled-bore weapons, are on the official list of missing weaponry.
On Tuesday, law enforcement officers in a Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia foiled an attempt to sell four portable surface-to-air missile systems.
"Police arrested five members of a criminal group that tried to sell four Strela-2M (SA-7 Grail) shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile systems," a local police source said.
