Coast Guard gun, ammo missing

An investigation has been launched by top officials of the TT Coast Guard to account for a quantity of ammunition and a gun which has gone missing from aboard two vessels.

The ammunition was discovered missing from aboard a vessel docked at Coast Guard headquarters at Staubles Bay. The gun was reported as unaccounted for on December 1, while the ammunition was missed the following day. The pistol was assigned to a Coast Guard officer who was stationed on board the TTS Nelson. The officer has since been transferred and is on assignment out of the country, but his weapon has not been accounted for. The ammunition went missing from another Coast Guard vessel, also stationed at Staubles Bay.

The 82-foot vessel had been involved in exercises with the Venezuelan Coast Guard. While the ammunition could not be accounted for in an inventory when it returned to Staubles Bay, Coast Guard Command Staff Officer, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Moore said investigating officers were using standard procedures to try to account for the missing gun and ammunition. He added that these checks would reveal whether the ammunition was used in these exercises or if it was simply replaced.