UN arms smuggling meeting

Anti-arms trade campaigners have called on the international community to punish air crews who smuggle arms into African war zones.

The call was made at the United Nations in New York during a preparatory meeting for an international conference on weapons smuggling later this summer.

Delegates heard how easy it was for gun-runners to circumvent the present international controls by filing false flight plans or by exploiting the poor radar cover across much of Africa's airspace.

One of the participants suggested that governments should withdraw the licences of pilots who were found guilty of involvement in arms smuggling.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service