According to the Center for American Progress, only one third of the 875 million small and light arms in circulation around the world, or 291 million,  are held by legitimate security forces.

Source: Rachel Stohl and EJ Hogendoorn, “Stopping the Destructive Spread of Small Arms,” Center for American Progress, March 10, 2010.

According to a government report, there were an estimated 1.6 Billion cyber-attacks per month on the United States Congress and other governmental agencies in 2009.

Source: Michael Evans, Giles Whittel, “Cyberwar declared as China hunts for the West’s intelligence secrets,” The Times, March 8, 2010.

There are over one million illegal guns in the Philippines.

Source:  Norimitsu Onishi, “Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord,” New York Times, February 6, 2010.

At the start of 2010, there were 11 million stolen or lost passports listed in the global database of Interpol.

Source:  Associated Press, “AP Interview: Interpol chief says weak passport verification world’s biggest travel threat,” Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2010.

Between 2008 and the start of 2010, Italian authorities seized assets worth $9.78 Billion from organized crime groups within the country.

Source:  Rachel Donadio, “Berlusconi Announces an Anti-Mafia Plan,” New York Times, January 28, 2010.

Organized Crime groups in Italy generated $189 Billion (135 Billion Euros) in revenue in 2009, with $109 Billion (78 Billion Euros) in profits.

Source:  Stephen Brown and Paolo Biondi, “Italian mobsters buck downturn, may target bourse,” Reuters, January 27, 2010.

According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, 19 of the 44 groups designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the United States Government participate in the illegal drug trade.

Source:  David T. Johnson, “The Escalating Ties Between Middle Eastern Terrorist Groups and Criminal Activity,” United States Department of State, Remarks at the Washington Institute for Peace, January 19, 2010.

From A Crime So Monstrous by E. Benjamin Skinner:

The market price for the guns was greater than the price for the children themselves. In 1986, an AK-47 cost ten cows, or about $1,000. By 2001, a glut of guns (and dearth of cows) shrank the cost to two cows, or about $86 along the Sudan-Uganda border. The child market was more volatile. In early 1987, after al-Mahdi began his counterinsurgency, a Dinka boy cost $90. By 1990, as supply swelled, the price fell to $15. At the time of my visit, CSI had agreed to pay $33 per slave.

Source: E Benjamin Skinner, A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery, (New York: Free Press,2008), page 82.

According to security experts, an Algerian terror group affiliated with Al Qaeda called the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magahreb recieves up to 80 percent of their funding from kidnap and ransom activities.

Source:  John Thorne, “Kidnapping westerners is a lucrative business in the Sahel,” The National, December 20, 2009.

North Korea is estimated to earn up to $1 Billion a year from illegal arms trafficking.

Source:  Simon Tisdall, “North Korean plane carrying smuggled arms seized in Thailand,” Guardian, December 13, 2009.