Stolen weapons

CIPER 15 has this report on the steady flow of cases in which Chile's military courts have had to deal with the theft of weapons by soldiers and carabineros. The thefts are apparently committed to obtain arms for criminal gangs. Excerpt:

Between 2012 and 2022, the Santiago Martial Court (with jurisdiction over the Army, Air Force and Carabineros) and the Navy Court Martial (located in Valparaíso) recorded at least 38 cases of theft of weapons – and related materials, such as bulletproof vests, uniforms and others – perpetrated by soldiers or carabineros, which culminated in convictions for 54 soldiers. CIPER reviewed each of these processes and in at least 15 of them there is evidence or indication that the stolen weapons were destined for criminals, including drug traffickers. In six of these cases, the military justice investigations managed to reliably record the link between the soldiers involved and the criminals. In another nine, although the link with criminals is not exhaustively described,

In several of these investigations, it was the military and police themselves who confessed the fate of the stolen species. It was also exposed how contacts between officials and criminals were established.