Unknown persons stole almost 20.000 pieces ammunition owned by the Bundeswehr. Germany The Ministry of Defense assesses that it is a "serious security incident". Moreover, this is not the first case.
As the Ministry of Defense of Germany confirmed to several media outlets, last week unknown persons stole Bundeswehr ammunition in the city of Burg near Magdeburg, in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. Deutsche says.
According to available information, on the night of November 24-25, ammunition was stolen from the trailer of a civilian freight forwarder's transport vehicle. Around 20.000 rounds of ammunition were stolen, including around 10.000 rounds of live ammunition for pistols and around 9.900 rounds of maneuver ammunition for assault rifles.
According to the currently known information, the driver of a civilian shipping company spontaneously decided to spend the night in a motel near the city of Burg. During the night, unknown persons stole ammunition from the trailer of the truck, and the theft was only noticed during unloading at the nearby Bundeswehr barracks south of Burg.
Charge against freight forwarder
The newspaper Spiegel states, citing the Ministry of Defense, that the civilian freight forwarder violated security regulations for the sensitive transport of ammunition. It is further stated that the stop at the hotel was not planned and that the driver spontaneously decided to do so.
"We take this case very seriously because this type of ammunition must not fall into the wrong hands," the Ministry of Defense announced. It is emphasized at the same time that the forwarding company seriously violated security measures. Apart from the unforeseen stop, the two drivers were not present in the truck, which is intended to guarantee that the dangerous cargo is not left unattended.
"Inside" information?
The Bundeswehr and the local police are jointly conducting the investigation. As Spiegel writes, comments are coming from military circles that this robbery would not have been possible without "inside" information, as only a small number of people were familiar with the transport route. It is estimated that the truck was followed and that the robbers took advantage of the unexpected opportunity when it was left unattended.
State institutions in Saxony-Anhalt have repeatedly run out of ammunition in recent months. So the police in Bernburg lost their ammunition in August. Not long before that, there was a similar incident at the Eisleben police station. Already last year, it became known that weapons in police warehouses were not destroyed as planned.
