Army punishes 38 soldiers for stealing 21 machine guns in SP

The Army administratively punished 38 soldiers for the disappearance of 21 machine guns that were inside a military base in Barueri, Greater São Paulo, in October 2023. The sanctions include disciplinary arrests defined by rank and degree of involvement. The information is from g1. O Power360 contacted the corporation, but did not receive a response until the publication of this post.

The Union Military Court also authorized “exceptional” the extension of the deadline for the investigation into the disappearance. According to the portal, the investigation was extended until January 17th. The decision came after the Army claimed that the case “it demands the production of many elements and the return of information and research”.

Of the 21 weapons that disappeared, 13 were 50 caliber machine guns, capable of downing aircraft, and 8 were 7.62 caliber. In note (complete – PDF – 29 kB), the Army said that the weapons were “unusable” –that is, they did not function properly and had been recalled for maintenance.

The note also says that the machine guns “There was a technical maintenance unit in the arsenal also responsible for initiating the process of dismantling and destroying weapons that were unable to be repaired.”

The Army and the Civil Police of Rio recovered, at the time of his disappearance, 19 of the 21 weapons taken from the barracks. The Military Public Ministry was formally called to take part in the investigation.

This was the largest diversion of weapons recorded by the Armed Forces since 2009, according to a survey by the Sou da Paz Institute (complete – PDF – 39 kB). According to the NGO, from January 2015 to June 2020, 27 Army weapons were diverted.

“A single .50 machine gun in the hands of organized crime is already capable of turning into a public security crisis, thirteen of which is a problem on a national scale”, says Bruno Langeani, project manager at Sou da Paz.