STEPH PLAYING CRUCIAL
Chari ty worker Steph Barnwell overcame a fear of guns to play a crucial role in preventing weapons from the Balkans falling into the hands of criminals and terrorists around the world.
The 24-year-old even forced herself to let loose on a firing range to prepare herself for being surrounded by pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers as she leads a team helping the Bosnia and Herzegovina ( BiH) army register a massive stockpile of 60,000 arms.
Steph heads up a HALO Trust task force, funded by the UK Government and other donors, with the aim of tightening security around the military’s arsenal.
Ammunition manufactured in Bosnia was used by terrorists for the Paris attacks in 2015, while the gunman who killed four people in November’s Vienna attack also used an automatic rifle from the former-Yugoslavia.
Glasgow-born Steph said: “We’re helping the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina to build a digital stockpile to stop weapons falling into the wrong hands.
“We’ve registered approximately 60,000 pieces of small arms and have catalogued over 250 different types of weapons.
“That ranges from pistols to AK- 47s, M16s, up to huge mortars and twoperson carry items fixed to vehicles.
“It’s a burden for the Bosnian army to manage that stockpile given the country’s relatively small number of soldiers.
“It creates an environment where it’s easy to see how weapons could go missing as it’s difficult to keep track of what you have.
“Our registration database will allow the armed forces to keep a digital record that can’t be edited or falsified, unlike before when paperwork meant bad actors could forge a record to say a weapon had been sold or destroyed when it was actually being diverted into the black market.”
She added: “This will allow the Bosnian armed forces to stop weapons diversion from happening. This is crucial to increasing civilian safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Balkans, and across Europe.
“The ammunition used for the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks in Paris was originally manufactured in Bosnia. The weapon used in November’s Vienna attack was essentially a Balkan-made AK- 47.
“So there are real-life implications of what we’re attempting to stop. There’s no direct evidence any of these weapons have ended up in the UK but this database helps eliminate that threat.”
Steph leads a team of six Bosnians working with the Balkan country’s army to catalogue weapons on special marking machines developed by Sheffield firm Pryor Marking Technology.
The work is funded by the UK, Germany, Norway and the UN agency UNSCAR and coordinated by EUFOR Mission (Operation Althea), the European Union’s military deployment working to help the Bosnia and Herzegovina government improve security and stability.
HALO has received £108,000 over the past two years for weapons marking and registration through the UK Government’s Conf lict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) and Defence Engagement Provision (DEP).
Steph admitted it took her a while to get used to being surrounded by weapons.
She said: “I’ve gone from only ever seeing the odd gun at airports or on the news, to working in warehouses with crates full of them.
“I remember the first time I saw these huge crates full of machine guns. It was completely surreal. It seems so alien for most Scots to hold a gun.
“It was not a job requirement but I decided to visit a firing range to give me some confidence so that I could handle the weapons safely.
“The kickback you get from firing a gun and how loud the sound is was very much a shock. It now almost feels normal
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