Colombia has grenades, ammunition and missiles stolen from military bases

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, denounced this Tuesday (30) the massive theft of weapons, ammunition and explosives from the military bases of Tolemaida, near the capital Bogotá, and La Guajira, in the north of the country. The lack of weapons was identified by the Army itself during inspections in February and at the beginning of April.

From the Tolemaida military base, located in the department of Cundinamarca, in the center of the country, almost 10,000 grenades and more than 808,000 ammunition were missing. Already from Brigade 10 in La Guajira, 39 missiles, more than 9 thousand grenades and 1 million ammunition disappeared.

“The only way to explain this is that for a long time there were networks integrated by people from the military and civilian forces dedicated to a massive arms trade, using the legal weapons of the Colombian State destined, in my opinion, for armed groups in Colombia. ”, expressed Petro.

According to the president, part of the weapons may also have been used for conflicts abroad. “The closest, Haiti, is seven hours away by speedboat from the La Guajira base, and probably also for the arms smuggling market at an international level”, estimated the Colombian president.

He described the weapons theft as “serious” and said inspections will continue.

Despite having reached agreements to dismantle guerrillas that operated for decades in the country, the Colombian government still deals with dissidents who refuse to hand over their weapons, in addition to violence from international drug trafficking cartels.

See the list of what was stolen:

Armaments taken in Tolemaida:

• 746 81 mm caliber grenades
• 3,712 M26 hand grenades
• 2,880 40 mm grenades
• 1,590 60 mm grenades
• 797 40 mm grenades
• 8,203 162 caliber ammunition
• 41,745 5.56 caliber ammunition
• 131,577 7.62 caliber ammunition
• 626,614 5.56 caliber ammunition

Armaments taken in La Guajira:

• 2 Spike missiles
• 37 Nimrod missiles
• 550 RPG rockets
• 22 155mm grenades
• 621 106mm grenades
• 1077 105mm grenades
• 1077 90mm grenades
• 960 81mm grenades
• 1,218 60mm grenades
• 4,171 40mm grenades
• 24 cartridges of 40 mm L 70HE
• 1,494 40mm grenades
• 3,694 M26 hand grenades
• 17,456 anti-tank explosives
• 22,293 anti-tank explosives .50 TAB
• 330,419 7.62 caliber ammunition
• 9,829 162 caliber ammunition
• 761,551 ammunition 5.56
• 57,992 ammunition 5.56
• 1,262 rounds of ammunition, caliber .38 Special