Brazil probes theft of heavy machine guns from army base

SAO PAULO: Brazil´s army said on Wednesday it is keeping around 160 soldiers on lockdown at a military base as it investigates the theft of 21 heavy machine guns, including some capable of taking down airplanes.

The army is scrambling to find how 13 .50-caliber and eight 7.62-caliber machine guns went missing on October 10 from its arsenal in the southeastern town of Barueri, 30-km outside Sao Paulo.

Officials have voiced concern the weapons could wind up in the hands of organized crime, in a country where violent clashes between the security forces and heavily armed drug gangs are common.

The incident is the biggest theft of weapons from the Brazilian military on record, according to the anti-violence group Instituto Sou da Paz, which monitors misappropriation of firearms from the country´s security forces. Illegal in Brazil for non-military use, .50-caliber machine guns are more than a meter (three feet) long, weigh up to 58 kilograms (128 pounds) and are capable of taking down aircraft.