By RFIPosted on 28-12-2019Changed on 28-12-2019 at 19:20
In South Africa, new stocks of weapons have disappeared. This time, 19 South African army assault rifles were stolen from a military base near the capital Pretoria. This flight seems to come from within, like many others before.
The rainbow nation is customary due to the fact ... We can no longer count the number of thefts of weapons committed inside police stations or military bases and then be sold to criminals.
Twelve suspects have been arrested. Twelve soldiers, all from the same combat unit, stationed at Lyttleton Tek base near Pretoria.
The army spokesman promised a week of investigation to find the 19 missing rifles and find out who the culprits are among the twelve. The Minister of Police and Parliament speak of the theft as an attack on the nation.
This case is particularly embarrassing for the South African authorities, who already have to fight organized crime, which kills almost 60 people a day. However, it is by no means new. Many police and military officers have found themselves behind bars for this kind of trafficking. The best known of them, Colonel Christian Prinsloo, had sold 2,400 weapons for around 120,000 euros to gangs in Cape Town.
Over the past five years, more than 4,300 weapons and 9 million rounds of ammunition have vanished from South African armories.
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