Huge police arsenal missing

2010-02-23 08:41

Buks Viljoen

Johannesburg - More than 60 firearms and approximately 50 000 rounds of ammunition have presumably been stolen from a specialised police unit in Mpumalanga.

The weapons were part of the arsenal of the police's former riot unit which had been stationed in Hazyview.

The unit was closed in 2007 after a decision by Jackie Selebi, former police commissioner, to close all specialist units.
The theft of (some of) the weapons was only recently discovered by police inspectors.

An audit of the unit's assets was ordered by the Mpumalanga provincial police headquarters, after two police firearms were found in the possession of suspects who were involved in planting a bomb at an ATM.

During the internal audit it was discovered that at least 32 R5 rifles, 30 21-gage shotguns, several Z88 pistols and 48 000 rounds of ammunition are missing.

Charges of theft and negligent handling of the weapons were laid with the Hazyview police last week.

Leonard Hlathi, spokesperson for the unit against organised crime in Mpumalanga, has confirmed that they are investigating the case.

"It could be that some of the weapons are not missing but have been transferred to other units.

"However, there would still be the problem that proper records were not kept."

- Beeld