Angolan police said on Thursday they had confiscated over 30,000 military grade firearms held by private security companies in an operation aimed at increasing control and safety within the security sector.

More than 1,700 security companies operate in Angola, according to the police, and last year they were asked to voluntarily hand over weapons that did not meet legal criteria and replace them with authorised firearms.

The latest seizure operation was launched in February after only 1,548 weapons were handed over, with more than 40,000 still missing.

The operation "conducted over 100 consecutive days resulted in the seizure of 31,392 military grade weapons held by private security companies," a police spokesperson said.

Illegal firearms

Over 214,000 rounds of ammunition and 35,000 magazines were also confiscated, he added.

Angola has for decades tried to rid itself of illegal firearms, many of which remain from the 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. In 2008, over 200,000 illegal weapons were collected in a civilian voluntary disarmament plan.

The police said on Thursday that the use of prohibited weapons would now "result in criminal proceedings."

Tens of thousands of authorised firearms have been imported and sold back to private security operators to replace the military grade weapons.

Unauthorised firearms in circulation risked ending up in the hands of criminals, the police said, with 254 such weapons being "lost" between January 2024 and February 2025.