Defence Forces lost ammunition for six months, sparking garda theft inquiry, documents show
Defence Forces
was unable to locate a bag of high-calibre rounds, seized as part of an investigation into the alleged theft of military property by an Army officer, for several months, according to official documents.
The apparent loss of the ammunition in 2022 sparked a major
Garda
investigation and a search operation in
Co Kilkenny
due to fears it may have fallen into criminal hands.
The ammunition was located six months later in a secure area, close to where it had been originally stored.
Despite this, the officer originally accused of misappropriating the ammunition was later sent forward for court martial on various charges. However, these charges were subsequently dropped by military prosecutors.
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The Defence Forces attributed the incident to an inadvertent error. Sources said the ammunition never left the secure storage area used to keep live rounds.
The sequence of events is detailed in a series of official documents seen by The Irish Times and corroborated with military sources.
The investigation into the officer began in 2021 when he was accused of a range of offences relating to improper possession of mostly historical military equipment, including rounds of .303 ammunition. This type of ammunition is no longer in use in the Defence Forces but has historical value and is still commonly used in civilian hunting rifles.
The accusations against the officer related to equipment that was stored on military property and never left the base.
During their investigation, military police enlisted the help of gardaí who searched the officer's home but found nothing.
As part of their investigation, military police seized 129 rounds of .303 ammunition from Defence Forces stores as evidence.
The rounds were divided into three bags. In December 2021, they were taken by a military transport to a secure storage facility in Stephens Barracks in Kilkenny.
In February 2022, the evidence was moved to another secure storage area due to construction works. Later that month, a senior officer directed that the bullets should be transferred into steel boxes.
Staff began to do this the following April while at the same time doing a routine check of the ammunition. At this point it was realised that one bag of ammunition was missing.
Senior officers were alerted, as was the superintendent in Kilkenny Garda station, per standard procedure.
The base was searched without success and a Garda detective sergeant was assigned to led a team to investigate 'the theft of ammunition' from the barracks, according to an official document.
The Garda investigation looked into civilian construction workers who were on the base at the time as well as external security staff who were also on site. However, nothing suspicious was uncovered in relation to their presence.
Investigators also examined the CCTV system at the base, which they were told had been damaged roughly around the time the missing ammunition was first noticed.
One Defence Forces member told gardaí that in the weeks before the missing ammunition was first noticed, an issue was found with the system.
According to an official report, clothes pegs had been inserted into the rear of the hard drive that records the CCTV footage in what an official said appeared to be an attempt to stop its cooling fans from working.
In November 2022, the ammunition was located in a loosely tied sandbag. A staff member told investigators they believed they had inadvertently placed the ammunition in the sandbag during a routine inspection earlier in the year.
In July of last year, days before his court martial was due to begin, the officer at the centre of the original investigation was informed the evidence had been missing for at least six months before being located.
When the case began, the prosecution said it had difficultly in proceeding with the charges. Ultimately, the officer agreed to plead guilty to a single summary charge relating to the recording of historical equipment in military stores.
The judge described it as a 'disciplinary matter' and fined the man three days pay. The officer was later promoted to a senior rank before retiring in good standing.
A Defence Forces spokesman said it 'would be inappropriate for the Defence Forces to comment on the details of specific Military Police investigations'.
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