The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday detained two marines, and released two on bail and another without bail in connection with a probe into the alleged theft of a used Stinger missile launcher and other weapons that were later obtained by an organized crime group.
The Marine Corps Command separately confirmed that law enforcement agencies retrieved the single-use device during a raid to uncover illegal guns and that the tube had previously been fired during a military exercise.
A joint task force composed of Taoyuan prosecutors, military police and military security personnel on Monday evening searched the 66th Marine Brigade’s base in Taoyuan and the Marine Corps Recruit Training Center in Pingtung County.
Photo courtesy of Military News Agency
The five being investigated are a military intelligence officer with the rank of captain, a sergeant major, a marine of unspecified rank serving in the brigade and two sergeants serving in air defense and artillery units.
Two suspects, surnamed Tan (譚) and Chiu (邱), were released on NT$100,000 bail each, while the Taoyuan District Court approved the detention of two suspects, surnamed Wang (汪) and Wang (王).
A fifth suspect, Tsao (曹), was released without bail.
Prosecutors and military officials were alerted to the missing launcher tube after police found the device, military gas masks and other weapons during a raid on an organized crime group’s arsenal.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to the investigation said that prosecutors have not ruled out that other unidentified members of the military might be involved in the case.
The launcher belonged to an old-type Dual Mounted Singer system dated 2009 and was not drawn from recent US arms shipments, the marine corps said.
Stinger missiles are designed to neutralize low-flying aircraft and can be carried on the backs of soldiers or mounted in vehicles. Taiwan maintains a stockpile of 1,800 Stinger systems, not including a new batch delivered in May.
These weapons are deemed crucial for the nation’s counterair capabilities, but deliveries have been delayed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused a global backlog in the supply of US arms, including Stinger missile systems.
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