Explosives Trafficking

The illegal manufacture, sale, transport or transfer of explosive materials, blasting agents or the precursor chemicals and components used to construct an improvised explosive device, prosecuted as a distinct offense from the possession or detonation of an explosive device itself because it targets the supply chain through which explosive material reaches an end user. Most countries regulate the legitimate explosives industry, used extensively in mining, construction and demolition, through a licensing regime covering manufacture, storage, sale and transport, and treat any transaction outside that licensed system as trafficking. The 1991 Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection, adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization after the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, requires signatory states to ensure that plastic explosive manufactured domestically carries a detectable marking agent, an effort aimed specifically at making illicitly trafficked plastic explosive harder to smuggle past detection equipment undetected. Explosives trafficking has been documented as a significant channel by which industrial or military explosive material, or a precursor chemical such as ammonium nitrate diverted from a licensed legitimate supply chain, reaches armed groups or is used to construct an improvised explosive device.