Unknown perpetrators made off with around 20,000 rounds of ammunition from a trailer belonging to a civilian logistics company last week.
The incident, confirmed by a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Defence, occurred during the night of Tuesday, November 25th, when the trailer was left unattended in front of a hotel in a commercial area of Burg, near Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt.
The theft was only discovered when the trailer arrived at the Clausewitz barracks the following day.Â
The German Armed Forces later confirmed that 10,000 pistol cartridges and 9,900 assault rifle cartridges were missing.
Who was responsible?
The ammunition was being transported by a civilian shipping company contracted by the military, which reportedly failed to meet the strict security requirements set out in its contract.
Normally, two drivers are assigned to sensitive transports like this, with one required to keep watch during stops. But in this case, the driver reportedly made an unplanned stop at a hotel and left the truck unguarded overnight.
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The German Defence Ministry described this as a serious breach of protocol in comments to Der Spiegel, stating, “We take the theft very seriously, as such ammunition must not fall into the wrong hands.”
Investigations suggest that the perpetrators broke into the trailer during the night and stole several boxes of ammunition. When the truck arrived at the barracks for delivery, soldiers realised that the loading area had been tampered with and checked the transport lists, confirming the loss.
The missing items included approximately 10,000 rounds of combat ammunition for pistols as well as 9,900 rounds of training ammunition for assault rifles, which are not live rounds.
Armed forces sources told Der Spiegel the incident was unlikely to have been a "random robbery".
"Instead, they fear that the ammunition transport was being watched and that the perpetrators struck when the driver made the unplanned stop in Burg," the news magazine said.
Previous incidents
This is not the first time ammunition has gone missing in Saxony-Anhalt.
In August this year, police in Bernburg lost three magazines containing 90 cartridges. Earlier that month, officers in Eisleben misplaced two ammunition bags with 180 rounds, which were later returned by the person who found them.
In March, the State Audit Office submitted an audit report showing that three grenade launchers and at least 52 weapons and dangerous objects had previously gone missing from the State Criminal Police Office in Saxony-Anhalt, according to reports by MDR Sachsen-Anhalt.
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