Investigators in Portugal are looking into how a gang of thieves managed to break into the national arsenal and make off with an enormous haul of weapons including anti-tank grenades, plastic explosives and more than 1,400 rounds of ammunition. The theft from the Tancos military complex, 60 miles (100km) north-east of Lisbon, was discovered last Wednesday. Reports suggest the complex’s CCTV system has been broken for the past two years.

Portugal’s defence minister, José Azeredo Lopes, said the thieves cut through a perimeter fence, and he described the operation as “very professional” and a serious security breach. Lopes said Portugal’s partners in Nato and the EU had been informed of the incident. On Monday the Spanish news site El Español published an inventory of the missing items that it had obtained from Spanish counter-terrorism sources. Among the items were 1,450 9mm cartridges, 18 teargas grenades, 150 hand grenades, 44 anti-tank grenades and 264 units of plastic explosives.(theguardian)…[+]