Most of the disappeared weapons in the army are the assault rifle 90. (Archive image)
Army spokesman Stefan Hofer told the Keystone-SDA news agency that 95 weapons had been reported stolen, and one of the missing weapons had been destroyed in a fire. Twenty army weapons were also found. Both the missing and the found weapons are mainly assault rifles 90 – 2022 there were 82. The remaining 14 weapons were pistols.
Most of the weapons that reappeared were found in the living quarters of those who had reported the loss or with their next tenants, it was said. In addition, the police seized some weapons during investigations.
The reasons for the increase in the number of firearms lost in the last two years compared to 2020, when there were only 70, cannot be determined with certainty, the army spokesman said. It is possible that this has to do with the renewed increase in mobility after the corona pandemic and that the numbers have thus approached those of 2019 again. However, both the number of missing and that of the found weapons correspond to the average of the last five years.
Statistics for 2019, 2020, and 2021 also all show a weapon destroyed by fire. “It’s pure coincidence,” Hofer said. The army does not know the exact circumstances of the damaging events.
The Swiss army is doing everything it can to prevent weapon losses, because every missing weapon is one too many. According to Hofer, members of the army would be trained and sensitized accordingly. As before, most of the weapons found would be returned to the army’s logistics base by the cantonal police corps.