13 officers were being tried for active duty only

On Sunday, October 8, 2023, 31 Ak-103 rifles belonging to the Armed Forces disappeared, on Sunday, October 8, 2023, from the Marine Infantry Battalion “Rearmirante Renato Beluche” (BIM 842), at the Punto Fijo Naval Base. In this case, 13 soldiers have been charged and are being tried in the military criminal justice system. Later, an investigation by the Directorate General of Military Counter-Intelligence (DGCIM) revealed that it was Lieutenant Johanna García Chavez who facilitated a group of civilians to seize the rifles. However, the thirteen soldiers who were initially arrested are still on trial without any evidence linking them to the serious crime.

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The head of this brigade, Admiral Augusto Che García Ferrer, was replaced on 19 January 2024 by Admiral José Rafael Morles Chirinos; Admiral Oldrin Alberto Guede Diaz also left the Juan Crisostomo Falcon naval base, handing over the position to Admiral Ovaski Elias Moreno Fuenmayor.

What made the theft of weapons possible was that this armory had no security system, lighting, alarms or monitoring, an officer from that military unit told Infobae. This is in addition to the fact that at the “Juan Crisostomo Falcon” naval base, where the Infantry Battalion “Remirante Renato Bellucci” operates, attached to the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade “Almirante Alejandro Pétion,” there is a wall that communicates with the sea “and that it fell without being repaired.” .

Two days passed and no one noticed the guns were gone. At 2 a.m., on October 11, a guard noticed strange people inside the bunker where the weapons were kept. “The protocol was activated and the brigade commander was informed of what was happening.”

“The most difficult thing for the guards and officers of those and other battalions was how to confront those who entered if they could use rifles while they only had low-caliber weapons. One of the officers fired into the air to try to get a reaction from the intruders and the people actually ran out of the hideout without taking anything with them. “The only thing we can do is thwart the fact that they have access to weapons.”

It's already been stolen

Later, the inventory verified the disappearance of the 31 rifles seized two days ago. Of the 31 rifles, three appeared floating in the sea and one in the bushes. The incarcerated officers were not on duty on October 8 when the weapons were stolen, but on October 11 when the small group returned to take more weapons. Lieutenant Commander Garcia Chavez said in her statement that the weapons were seized on October 8.

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