An international operation conducted between 13 and 17 December and coordinated by Europol has resulted in the confiscation of 1,534 firearms, the Croatian Police Directorate said on Friday.

The joint operation, involving police forces from 24 countries, Eurojust and the European Commission, resulted in the search of more than 260 homes, turning up 1,534 gas and signal guns, 17,464 pieces of ammunition and 6,550 kilograms of pyrotechnics.

The operation, dubbed Conversus and headed by the Romanian national police force as part of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), targeted blank guns which have become a favourite weapon among criminals because they can be easily converted into weapons firing real ammunition.

A Dutch crime reporter is believed to have been killed with such a weapon in Amsterdam in July 2021, the Police Directorate said.

The police noted that most of the confiscated weapons were imported to the EU from Turkey, which has in the meantime amended its legislation to respond to this threat.

The coordinated police operation involved the police forces of Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Norway, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Kosovo.