About a month ago, Iraqi police seized over one thousand Ukrainian Fort-19 pistols that were smuggled into the country. Reportedly, the documents accompanying the cargo and the markings on the boxes were stating that the articles inside the container are bicycles. The seizure took place in Umm Qasr, a port city in southern Iraq.

As you can see in the images, the pistols look to be brand new in the cases with a spare magazine and cleaning accessories. It is unclear whether the guns shipped from Ukraine and if Iraq was the final destination or there was a more complicated smuggling scheme involved.

Fort-19 is manufactured by the Ukrainian state corporation FORT. Here is a brief description of the company quoted from their website:

Science Industrial Association “FORT” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is a modern enterprise of military and industrial complex of Ukraine, which produces small arms, special equipment and ammunition. Currently at its production facilities established license output of several types of small arms and it takes active measures aimed at creation of infrastructure for development and production of ammunition on an production scale.

Fort-19 is a polymer framed, hammer fired semi-automatic pistol chambered in 9x19mm. Below you can find the tech specs of the pistol:

Technical characteristics

Caliber – 9 mm Luger

Operation mode – Short recoil system

Trigger mechanism – Single and double action

Overall length, mm – 208

Height, mm – 142

Width, mm – 35

Barrel length, mm – 116

Weight with empty magazine, up to, kg – 0,80

Magazine capacity, rds – 16

Accuracy range, m – 25

Rate of shooting (rounds per minute) – 50

Rifling – 6 grooves

Trigger pull force, kgf – 1,5 – 2,5