THE Government is to acquire two firearm marking machines to assist with efforts to stem the illegal trafficking in small arms.

The Dot Peen machines will allow the authorities to trace weapons by placing marks on them, which cannot be easily erased, should they fall into the possession of criminals.

Peter Bunting  and Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, sign a co-operation agreement to tackle the  illegal trafficking in small arms.

They will be procured by the Ministry of National Security as part of a co-operation agreement with the Organisation of American States (OAS), which was signed today at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, who signed the agreement with the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, said the machines will be used to mark weapons used by civilians and the security forces.

“We plan to use one of these machines at the Firearm Licensing Authority, which will be responsible for marking all the licensed firearms imported into Jamaica for civilian use, and the second machine will go to the forensic lab and they will be responsible for marking all the weapons that will be used by the security forces,” he said.

The minister said the Government is pleased to be a part of the regional effort to stem the illicit trafficking of small arms, and “we look forward to further strengthening and deepening the co-operation between all the member states of the OAS and Jamaica in this very important task.”

“We have signed a number of protocols becoming part of this international effort and we very much welcome this assistance which will take us a long way…to be able to understand how the illicit traffickers move weapons within the Caribbean and the wider Americas,” he said.