Artillery ammunition, illustrative stock photo (source: TASR/AP)
About 300,000 pieces of functional cartridges, used in sport shooting and individual trainings, disappeared from a warehouse in Sklené, near Martin (Žilina Region), the private broadcaster TV Markíza reported.
This is the second of such cases in the past few months. In late April, 120 hand grenades and 10 anti-tank missiles were reported missing from an ammunition store in Trenčín, which led Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (nominee of the Slovak National Party) to order a thorough account of military stores.
“We can confirm that the extraordinary inventorying revealed a higher number of missing cartridges at the warehouse in Sklené,” spokesperson for the Defence Ministry Danka Capáková told TV Markíza.
She did not specify the number, saying that the inspection is still underway.
The thefts are currently being investigated by the National Criminal Agency.
Former defence minister and current MP for Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) Ľubomír Galko said that parliament has information about the missing ammunition.
“It may even be a sabotage aimed against the commanders of the Slovak Armed Forces or the minister,” Galko told TV Markíza.
The warehouse in Sklené is one of six ammunition stores administered by the Armed Forces, holding nearly 4,700 tonnes of artillery, infantry and engineer munitions. They are protected from theft and natural disaster by several security mechanisms.
Galko says that the existence of a security system is one of the reasons that he believes the thieves were linked to somebody on the inside, TV Markíza reported.
