Note: not just the Pharr PD missing weapons.
Rifle seized at supermarket among 2 stolen from Pharr PD
February 20, 2012 10:48 PM
Dave Hendricks
The Monitor
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/department-58892-police-rifles.html
BACKGROUND
Earlier chapters in this story:
>> Three men face weapons charges
>> Three arrested after guns found outside supermarket
PHARR — A police-issue rifle that mysteriously disappeared from the
Pharr Police Department armory four years ago resurfaced on Friday
outside Foy's Supermarket in Mission.
Mission police arrested three men and seized the 9 mm Beretta Storm
rifle and two pistols, along with black ski masks and gloves, outside
the supermarket, 501 S. Conway Ave. A Texas Crime Information Center
database showed the rifle was one of two stolen from the Pharr police
armory in January 2008.
"We want to believe that they were just misplaced by personnel," said
Pharr police Chief Ruben Villescas, adding that investigators hope to
learn more from the three men, who were arraigned on weapons charges
Saturday.
Officers discovered the rifles missing after an inventory check, but
logs designed to keep track of the weapons didn't reveal who'd taken
them, Villescas said. At the time, police supervisors issued the
rifles daily and officers returned them to their supervisors when
their shifts ended.
"The department recognizes this matter as a serious concern and is
working with the Mission Police Department in the investigation,"
according to a Pharr police news release.
Today, Pharr police have individually assigned M4 carbines and the
department no longer uses Beretta Storm rifles, Villescas said,
crediting the new procedure with increasing accountability for weapons.
Three picked up on weapons charges
February 21, 2012 9:25 PM
By MADELINE BUCKLEY/The Brownsville Herald
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/outside-137196-three-illegal.html
Brownsville police say an attempted illegal gun sale led to a
shooting outside Sunrise Mall last month.
Detectives arrested three people this week in connection with the
incident in January in which one man was shot in the shoulder in the
parking lot outside of Dillard's department store, Brownsville police
spokesman J.J. Treviño said.
Ulises Bab Perez, 19, and two juveniles face charges of unlawfully
carrying a weapon. Police arrested Perez and one minor Monday and the
other minor Tuesday.
Perez and the two juveniles came to the mall that night with five
stolen weapons – two handguns and three rifles – that they were going
to sell to three men, Treviño said.
After a disagreement, a man in his 20s was shot but his injuries were
not life threatening. Police believe the injured man was one of the
buyers, Treviño said.
In the days following the shooting, investigators questioned several
people but made no arrests. They recovered the weapons at the scene
of the shooting, Treviño said.
The Cameron County District Attorney's Office was able to file only
weapons charges against the three because none of the parties in the
case are stepping forward to file a complaint, Treviño said.
Detectives believe one of those arrested for selling the guns shot
the man.
The state would need one of the victims to file charges in order to
charge the shooter with assault, Treviño said. "Since nobody filed,
there is no case," he said.
The arrest warrant for Perez states that he and minors stole the guns
from one of their relatives. The three agreed to sell them to the
three men at the mall for $450, the warrant says.
Note: how long before some show up on border?
Report: 43 anti-aircraft missiles found in Algeria
Mon, 02/20/2012 - 17:34
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.svherald.com/associatedpress/250074
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian security services have found two
cache of weapons, including 43 anti-aircraft missiles, hidden in the
sand near the Libyan border, a local newspaper reported Monday.
The French-language daily El Watan quoted unidentified security
officials as saying the missiles were discovered recently in the town
of In Amenas in southern Algeria.
Government officials would not confirm the report.
One cache included Russian designed SA-24 anti-aircraft missiles and
the shoulder-fired SAM-7 from the arsenal of the late Libyan dictator
Moammar Gadhafi.
According to the U.S., Libya amassed some 20,000 shoulder-fired anti-
aircraft weapons, the largest such stockpile in a non-producing country.
In October, the U.N. Security Council urged Libyan authorities to do
all they could from keeping their enormous stockpile of shoulder-
fired missiles from falling into terrorist hands.
It is feared that terrorist groups might use the missiles to attack
civil aviation.
Thousands of the weapons are believed to have gone missing when
militias overthrew the Gadhafi and helped themselves to government
stockpiles.
Algerian authorities have long warned that weapons from Libya's civil
war could call into terrorist hands, including the local branch of al-
Qaida, which is active in northern Algeria as well as in the desert
wastes straddling the borders to the south.
According to El Watan, authorities discovered the caches near In
Amenas, thanks to information from smugglers working in the remote
region.
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