One down, 43 to go. One of my men reported his gun was stolen, says police task force director

One of the 44 missing guns which the auditor-general could not find during an audit on the police firearms inventory has been accounted for – it was stolen from a policeman by a snatch thief.

Federal Special Task Force (Operations and Counter-Terrorism) director Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said the incident was classified as unintentional negligence as the policeman had been threatened by the snatch thief.

"There was only one case reported in my department and it occurred when the policeman was riding home on his motorcycle. He was forced to stop by the roadside as one of his tyres had gone flat."

"While changing the tyre, a snatch thief approached the policeman and threatened him with a knife before cutting the strap of his bag, which had a firearm inside,” he told reporters after closing a consumer forum at the Kuala Lumpur University today.

The 2012 Auditor-General Report recently revealed that the police had lost RM1.33 million worth of assets including handcuffs, 44 firearms and 29 vehicles between 2010 and 2012.

On Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar claimed that the missing firearms had not fallen into the hands of criminals. He claimed that some could have fallen into the sea while police were carrying out operations.

His reply was backed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who claimed it was a transparent explanation by the police and had maintained none of the guns could have fallen into the hands of the underworld.

Fuzi said an internal investigation had been carried out on the incident although the findings had not been revealed yet.

"We have conducted an inquiry, as procedure dictates that a policeman who has lost the force's assets must lodge a report which is then investigated by the department he is attached to."

"However, this is an isolated case as the policeman had not been negligent when he lost his firearm. He will most probably be penalised with a surcharge for the cost of replacing the stolen firearm," he said declining to state what type of firearm was stolen.