Admin I Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023
BRANDENBURG, Germany – The interior minister of the German state of Brandenburg, Michael Stübgen, wants a full audit following the discovery of around 25,000 rounds of missing ammunition in police sport shooting.
“I have instructed that we check every single cartridge and go back to 2014 to do so,” Stübgen told dpa.
“Since 2014, there has been a double function in the sensitive area of ammunition issue that should never have existed. We have corrected that. Sport shooting must be safe,” he said.
His goal is for sport shooting to be able to take place in January. This would allow marksmen to prepare for next year’s competitions.
In November, the State Court of Audit discovered that around 25,000 rounds of ammunition had gone missing from the police sports shooting programme since 2017. The State Office of Criminal Investigation is investigating the case of around 4,400 rounds of missing ammunition for police sport shooters in 2022.
A specialist shooting supervisor was also responsible for ammunition in the Central Police Service. According to the ministry, there was a lack of records of who had fired what. Control obligations were then introduced.
“We have no evidence that this was criminal activity,” said Stübgen with regard to the missing ammunition from 2022, “but we can’t rule it out 100%. That’s why we filed a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office two months ago.”
The Minister of the Interior was criticized not only by the opposition in the state parliament, but also by members of the coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
SPD member for Brandenburg Uwe Adler had accused him of “disinterest or calculation with regard to the investigation” into the whereabouts of the ammunition and demanded immediate clarification.
The minister defended himself. “We have analysed and eliminated the weaknesses in the documentation,” said Stübgen.
“The dual control principle has been tightened up so that the documentation of every ammunition handover is now ratified by the signatures of both parties involved. This means that the handover remains clearly traceable at a later date.”
