Theft of dozens of weapons from British military bases in 5 years

From 2018 to 2023, at least 30 weapons and war equipment have been reported missing or stolen from British military bases.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, the British army has lost several rocket launchers, machine guns, SA-80 assault rifles, a Soviet-made AK-47 assault rifle, several Glock pistols and weapons from the two world wars in five years. Also, there are thousands of bullets that have disappeared without any trace.

It is noted that among the missing weapons there are two all-purpose assault machine guns with a firing rate of up to 750 rounds per minute and a range of up to 1,800 meters. One of them drowned in the sea, and the fate of the second one is unknown.

In addition, the British Armed Forces lost at least 1,400 laptops, 300 flash drives and around 100 desktop computers. At the same time, from January to March 2023, 50 laptops were lost or stolen, and in August of that year alone, the military lost another 51 laptops.

Sarah Olney, a member of the British Parliament, said an audit was necessary to determine whether the missing equipment contained classified information. For its part, the Ministry of Defense told The Telegraph that the devices’ hard drives were encrypted. They also promised to do their best to prevent further casualties and thefts.