Portuguese president speaks out over stolen weapons arsenal3 hours ago
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40479221Days after weapons and explosives were taken from a military warehouse in Portugal, the scale of the theft is becoming clear.
The burglary apparently took place at night in an area where CCTV had been broken for some time | RTPA Spanish website has revealed an extensive list of grenades, ammunition and explosives seized from the Tancos site, north-east of Lisbon.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has called for a no-holds-barred investigation into the raid.
Links to arms thefts in other Nato states should be looked at, he added.
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The Portuguese defence minister initially described the raid as "serious", but the size of the missing arsenal only emerged
when El Español (in Spanish) published what it said was a list of the stolen armaments. Among the weapons taken were:
- 1,450 9mm ammunition cartridges
- 150 hand grenades
- 44 anti-tank grenades
- 18 tear gas grenades
- 102 explosive charges
- 264 pieces of plastic explosive
...
Centre-right opposition party leader Assunção Cristas said that after 64 deaths in forest fires last month there was a "crisis of authority and a crisis of leadership" in Portugal. She called for the defence minister and another minister to be fired.
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Shots were fired close to Tancos military base, which is home to an engineering regiment, late on Sunday night. No-one was hurt. The regiment's commander was one of the five individuals suspended.
Nato said it was aware of the theft but emphasised it had no involvement in the facility. "This is a matter for the Portuguese authorities and we count on them to investigate what happened," an official told the BBC.
Senior military figures in Portugal were reportedly investigating whether the thieves had acted on inside information. The armed forces' top brass were due to meet on Monday to discuss the case.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40479221
