Germany’s Defense Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that a “consignment of several thousand rounds of ammunition” intended for the military was stolen from a private contractor’s trailer last week.
A spokesperson told CNN that the ammunition was stolen between November 24 and 25 “from a civilian transport trailer that was parked overnight.”
On November 28, the military discovered the shipment was missing about 20,000 rounds of ammunition, a spokesman said, without providing further details.
In a statement sent to CNN, the German military said it was investigating the theft with the help of local police.
A Defense Ministry spokesperson told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine on Tuesday that the military takes the theft “very seriously.”
“This type of ammunition must not fall into the wrong hands,” the spokesperson said.
There have been other ammunition losses in Germany this year, but none on the scale of last week’s robbery. German public broadcaster ARD reported in August that around 90 rounds of ammunition were missing from a police station in Saxony-Anhalt.
The theft comes just as Germany is building up its military after years of weak investment and cultural discomfort with its military. A week before the robbery, Germany’s coalition government introduced a bill that would increase the number of military personnel from the current 180,000 to 260,000 by 2035, and add 200,000 reservists.
The militaristic push comes as Germany remains Ukraine’s largest supplier of ammunition. In late August, German manufacturer Rheinmetall opened what it claims is Europe’s largest ammunition factory to meet demand.
