NSW: Army captain is behind rocket launcher thefts

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2007
NSW: Army captain is behind rocket launcher thefts

SYDNEY, April 5 AAP - An Australian army captain is the alleged mastermind of the theft
and sale of eight defence force rocket launchers, police say.

The Australian Federal Police and NSW Police Force now say eight, not seven, anti-tank
weapons were stolen from the military.

Police today arrested two men, aged 46 and 39, from Wattle Grove and Mount Annan, in
Sydney's south-west, and a 63-year-old woman from Tahmoor, south-west of Sydney, in simultaneous
police raids about 6am (AEST) today.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Terry Collins said the 46-year-old man was an army captain
who worked closely with munitions.

"We will allege that a captain in the defence force was a mastermind and a key player
in regard to the theft and distribution of these (rocket launchers) to criminal elements
in the community," Mr Collins told reporters.

"We will allege the captain had intimate knowledge and had worked very closely in the
area where he had access to those type of weapons."

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KEYWORD: ROCKETS SECOND LEAD

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