Weapons claw at the army: guns and ammunition disappear so slightly!

Weapons claw at the army: guns and ammunition disappear so slightly!

Towarek-Schulkaserne, 4470 Enns, Österreich - This year there were increasing incidents in which weapons and ammunition of the Austrian Armed Forces were stolen. According to a parliamentary request from Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) to the Greens, two assault rifles of the STG77 model, which were stolen from the army non-commissioned officer academy in the Tarek school barracks in Enns (Upper Austria) in June 2024. While one of the rifles could be found again thanks to the investigation by the Carinthia State Criminal Police Office, the other remains unexpected. A light gun 57 was also stolen in this incident and has still disappeared, such as reported.

Another worrying incident occurred on June 19, 2024 at Pionier Battalion 1 in Villach, where weapon parts for the assault rifle were stolen. In addition, the Ministry of Defense reported on a break-in in the Vienna military command in 2023, in which a Glock pistol P80 was stolen, but could be found again later. The security situation in the Army is therefore tense, since ammunition was often lost. In 2024, for example, six 5.56 mm cartridges were found on the apartment of an armed worker, and in 2023 it was discovered even 400 9 mm cartridges in his private household, so orf.at .

Defense spokesman David Stögmüller expressed serious concerns about these incidents and emphasized: "How can it be that a machine gun simply disappears and you don't know who has it? It is not a chewing gumipackerl, what is stolen here, but a weapon from which a real danger goes out." He urgently called for improvements in dealing with weapons and ammunition, especially for missions and exercises abroad to counter such security risks.