Bulgaria-Bound Stolen Munition Detonators Found in Romania

Crime | July 19, 2011, Tuesday // 07:41|  views

Bulgaria-bound detonators went missing from a train on their way from Brasov to Bulgaria. Map by wseas.us

The rocket detonators, which were stolen from a Romanian railway car carrying military equipment to neighboring Bulgaria, have been found near the town of Chitila, Southern Romania, the country's interior ministry announced.

Police found the four stolen boxes. According to Gencho Hristov, CEO of Sofia-based firm Sage Consultants AD, an arms trader, who spoke exclusively to Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), a total of 80 detonators for shells, not 64 as reported by international media, shipped from the Romanian city of Brasov to Bulgaria have disappeared from the Romanian train that was transporting them to Bulgaria.

The theft of the shipment, which was guarded by 10 Romanian gendarmerie officers, was discovered Saturday afternoon at the customs office in Romania's Giurgiu, right before the train was supposed to enter into Bulgaria.

Hristov told Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) that the missing detonators in question stolen on Romanian territory were a MRV model for 122 mm M-21 OF artillery rockets. The artillery rockets, of which the detonators are part were an incoming transfer from Romania to Bulgaria.

Romanian company ROMARM, the producers of the stolen detonators for a Bulgarian company, has declared it was not responsible for the explosives.

Bulgaria's economy ministry said the warheads belonged to Grad missiles which are normally fired from multiple-rocket launchers.

In a statement it said the shipment was part of a transfer of "nonfunctional components and parts" for reprocessing at the VMZ factory - one of Bulgaria's largest military factories - in Sopot.

Under the contract, the transfer of the munitions took place in Brasov, and subsequently the receiver of the goods was responsible for their safety.

According to ROMARM, the Bulgarian firm made contract with a Romanian firm that was supposed to provide for the security of the arms shipment on Romanian territory.

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Tags: artillery rockets, artillery shells, artillery, MRV, Bulgarian Army, Defense Ministry, gendarmerie, Giurgiu, Brasov, train, explosives, Romania, detonators, ROMARM, munitions, arms factory, Sage Consultants AD, VMZ Sopot, VMZ, military factory, M-21 OF rockets

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