The German army announced that an ammunition shipment designated for the armed forces was stolen from a contractor's truck, according to a spokesman today, Tuesday.
The spokesman said the ammunition was stolen from "a trailer of a civilian transporter, which was parked overnight." German media reported that boxes containing about 20,000 pieces of ammunition were stolen from the truck, parked outside a hotel in the city of Magdeburg. The magazine "Der Spiegel" reported that an initial examination revealed the theft of about 10,000 live pistol rounds, and9,900 blanks for assault rifles and what is known as smoke ammunition.
According to the magazine, it appears that the driver decided spontaneously to spend the night in a hotel in the town of Burg.
The army spokesman clarified that the loss of the ammunition was discovered upon delivery of the rest of the shipment to the barracks it was designated for. He said, "Security and investigation authorities were informed of the theft. We are taking this incident seriously and conducting a thorough investigation"."
Sources in the armed forces told "Der Spiegel" that this was "not a random theft." The magazine reported, "They fear that the transport of the ammunition was under surveillance, and the perpetrators executed their strike when the driver unexpectedly stopped in Burg."
"Der Spiegel" noted that the contractor violated protocol by allowing the shipment to be transported by a single driver, at a time when there should have been two.
