German army lost 20 thousand pieces of ammunition from a parked truck

The German army lost nearly 20 thousand rounds of ammunition this week when it disappeared from a truck during a night stop at a parking lot near the town of Burg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The ammunition was being transported by a civilian company whose driver parked the truck overnight unattended in an industrial area. The theft was only discovered after the vehicle arrived at a nearby barracks, when soldiers discovered that 10,000 pistol cartridges and 9,900 practice blanks for assault rifles were missing.

The Federal Ministry of Defence described the incident as a "relevant security incident." The department said the contracted private company failed to meet its obligations in transporting the weapons and ammunition.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the army does not believe that the perpetrators were led by chance, but rather assumes that the thieves followed the transport and took advantage of an unguarded bus stop.

(echo24, sie)