thedrifter
02-07-08, 08:02 AM
Munitions stolen from Miramar warehouse
By: SARAH GORDON - Staff Writer
MIRAMAR -- Inactive missile launchers and rubber-pellet grenades were stolen from a remote munitions storage facility at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station sometime this week, Marine officials said Wednesday.
The break-in was discovered by members of Miramar's explosive ordnance disposal unit during a routine inspection Tuesday, air station spokesman Maj. Jason Johnston said. A hole in the high, thick, chicken-wire security fence around the warehouse marked the burglars' entry, Johnston said. They may have broke in with a car or used wire cutters, he said.
Because of an ongoing investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Miramar, Johnston declined to describe how the criminals broke into the building. He said the investigation showed the crime probably happened over the weekend and did not appear to be the work of terrorists.
After discovering the break-in, inspectors inventoried the facility's stock and found that five AT-4 missile launch tubes and 15 sting grenades were missing. The launch tubes, each about 3 feet long, rest on the shoulder and are used by soldiers in Iraq to fire at tanks and bunkers, Johnston said. The stolen tubes are inert and cannot be reactivated, Johnston said.
The string grenades, which explode in a flurry of rubber pellets, are designed for crowd control and are considered nonlethal, Johnston said, but could cause serious injuries if activated close to someone's body.
Johnston said the breached facility is in a remote part of east Miramar, a 17,000-acre area east of Interstate 15 between Pomerado Road and Highway 52. No lethal weapons are stored at the facility, where a Marine unit deactivates and destroys unwanted munitions, Johnston said. The base's more dangerous ordnance is protected by armed guard and stronger fortifications, Johnston said.
Still, he said, the incident had prompted a full inventory of the base's munitions and a rethinking of whether any active munitions will be stored at the east Miramar facility in the future.
"Should it be determined that we need to store things like this out there, we will be making sure that we improve the security," he said.
-- Contact staff writer Sarah Gordon at (760) 901-4076 or sgordon@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: SARAH GORDON - Staff Writer
MIRAMAR -- Inactive missile launchers and rubber-pellet grenades were stolen from a remote munitions storage facility at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station sometime this week, Marine officials said Wednesday.
The break-in was discovered by members of Miramar's explosive ordnance disposal unit during a routine inspection Tuesday, air station spokesman Maj. Jason Johnston said. A hole in the high, thick, chicken-wire security fence around the warehouse marked the burglars' entry, Johnston said. They may have broke in with a car or used wire cutters, he said.
Because of an ongoing investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Miramar, Johnston declined to describe how the criminals broke into the building. He said the investigation showed the crime probably happened over the weekend and did not appear to be the work of terrorists.
After discovering the break-in, inspectors inventoried the facility's stock and found that five AT-4 missile launch tubes and 15 sting grenades were missing. The launch tubes, each about 3 feet long, rest on the shoulder and are used by soldiers in Iraq to fire at tanks and bunkers, Johnston said. The stolen tubes are inert and cannot be reactivated, Johnston said.
The string grenades, which explode in a flurry of rubber pellets, are designed for crowd control and are considered nonlethal, Johnston said, but could cause serious injuries if activated close to someone's body.
Johnston said the breached facility is in a remote part of east Miramar, a 17,000-acre area east of Interstate 15 between Pomerado Road and Highway 52. No lethal weapons are stored at the facility, where a Marine unit deactivates and destroys unwanted munitions, Johnston said. The base's more dangerous ordnance is protected by armed guard and stronger fortifications, Johnston said.
Still, he said, the incident had prompted a full inventory of the base's munitions and a rethinking of whether any active munitions will be stored at the east Miramar facility in the future.
"Should it be determined that we need to store things like this out there, we will be making sure that we improve the security," he said.
-- Contact staff writer Sarah Gordon at (760) 901-4076 or sgordon@nctimes.com.
Ellie