Missing SANDF weapons 'alarming'

In another worrying loss of armaments from a major power, six rocket launchers and four mortars are among weaponry that has gone missing from South African National Defence Force (SANDF) arsenals over the past year, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu revealed on Monday. The missing launchers include three 88mm anti-tank weapons, which can be used to knock out armoured vehicles. In a written response to a parliamentary question, Sisulu gave details of weapons that had "been stolen or gone missing" from the SANDF over the past three years.

According to a table included in the reply -- titled "Firearm losses of the DOD -- weapon losses during 2009 included:

• five 9mm pistols;
• six 5.56mm rifles;
• seven 7.62mm rifles;
• one 7.70mm rifle;
• six 0.22 (inch) rifles;
• four 60mm mortars;
• one 81mm mortar;
• three 88mm rocket launchers;
• two 40mm rocket launchers; and
• one 70mm rocket launcher.

The table did not indicate whether the stolen or missing launchers and mortars included rockets and shells. The losses were "alarming", Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald, who posed the question to Sisulu, said on Monday. "It is alarming to see these figures. The fact that 88mm rocket launchers, which can be used against tanks and vehicles, have been stolen is quite disturbing. "The question is: What do those who have these weapons want to use them for? What will people do with these rocket launchers?" Groenewald said the reply also showed a total of 87 7.62mm rifles and 47 5.56mm rifles had been stolen from the SANDF since 2007. "If we look at cash-in-transit heists, these are exactly the sort of weapons criminals use." Terrorists could also find practical use throughout Africa for such weaponry.

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Paintings by Picasso, Matisse stolen in Paris

A lone thief stole five paintings worth a total of half a billion euros, including works by Picasso and Matisse, in a brazen overnight heist Thursday from a Paris modern art museum, police and prosecutors said. The paintings were reported missing early Thursday from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower, according to Paris police. Investigators have cordoned off the museum, in one of the French capital's most tourist-frequented neighborhoods. A single masked intruder was caught on a video surveillance camera entering the museum by a window and taking the paintings away, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. Their collective worth is estimated at euro500 million ($613 million), the prosecutor's office said. The paintings were "Le pigeon aux petits-pois" (The Pigeon with the Peas) by Pablo Picasso, "Pastoral" by Henri Matisse, "Olive Tree near Estaque" by Georges Braque, "Woman with a Fan" by Amedeo Modigliani and "Still Life with Chandeliers" by Fernand Leger.

• "The French Art Heist: Who Would Steal Unsaleable Picassos?", Time, 5/20/10.
• "5 masterpieces stolen in $123M Paris museum heist", Jakarta Post, 5/20/10.
  

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Robbers Use Copter To Raid Swedish Cash Depot

Robbers used a helicopter Wednesday in a spectacular raid of a cash depot in Stockholm, breaking into the building through the roof and flying off with bags of cash, police and witnesses said. The pre-dawn heist stunned police in the Swedish capital, who were unable to deploy their own helicopters to the scene because of suspected explosives placed at their hangar.

Shortly after 5 a.m., the robbers jumped onto the roof of the cash depot belonging to security firm G4S and smashed a window to enter the building, police spokeswoman Ulrika Lonngren told broadcaster SVT. There were staff inside the building, but no one was injured. Witnesses reported hearing loud bangs during the heist, but it wasn't immediately clear whether any explosives had been used. Police were not sure if the thieves managed to steal any money, "but we have reports that witnesses saw them loading objects into the helicopter."

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