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More than 140 police guns have gone missing in Northern Ireland, Belfast Live can reveal today.

Scores of weapons including modern Glock pistols and machine guns have been lost or stolen.

A total of 145 firearms are currently lost, with 14 of those being PSNI issue weapons, a Freedom of Information request to the Service has revealed.

In an insight into how many weapons disappeared during the days of the RUC, figures show 131 disappeared before the formation of the PSNI in 2001.

Belfast Live can also reveal 179 rounds of ammunition have also vanished, the vast majority of which are 9mm.

The disappeared weapons include:

A Heckler and Koch MP5 machine gun

A M1 Carbine rifle

A Sterling machine gun

16 Webley revolvers

Two Smith and Wesson pistols

74 Walther 9mm pistols

41 Ruger .357 magnum revolvers

A Heckler and Koch G33 rifle, and

Eight Glock 9mm pistols.

The FoI request was made after claims a Glock pistol seized by police probing the Kevin McGuigan murder is a stolen police issue weapon.

Court proceedings regarding the gun and other matters are ongoing.

In their response, the PSNI admitted: “145 police issue firearms are currently missing and/or unaccounted for, of which 131 pre-date the formation of the PSNI in 2001.”

They added: “14 PSNI issue firearms have been stolen and/or gone missing since the formation of the PSNI.”

Asked if any PSNI weapons had been lost or stolen but later recovered the force said: “Three PSNI-issued firearms that were previously lost and/or stolen have been recovered.”

Belfast Live also asked if disciplinary proceedings had been brought against officers for losses over the past decade.

The PSNI replied: “In the last 10 years, five officers have been disciplined due to PSNI issue firearms either going missing or being stolen.”

They added in the same period “nine officers have been disciplined due to PSNI issue ammunition either going missing or being stolen”.

Asked to detail the ammunition that is missing, the PSNI said the bullets are:

Six rounds of .38 special

Three rounds of 5.56mm, and

170 rounds of 9mm.

DUP MLA Jonathan Craig, who sits on the Policing Board, said he was “flabbergasted” at the number of missing weapons.

He added: “These figures raise a lot of very, very serious issues, not least who has these guns and what are their intentions.

“Are they in the hands of terrorists? There’s also the question of how they went missing in the first place and have the police learned from these incidents to get measures in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again. There are serious implications here and I’ll be raising this issue with the head of Serious Crime Will Kerr.

“The current police can’t be held accountable for the guns lost by the RUC but the 14 lost by the PSNI require detailed explanation.

“I’ll be asking at the Policing Board for the individual circumstances in which these weapons went missing.”

Gerry Kelly, who represents Sinn Fein on the Policing Board, said he too will be discussing the revelations with senior police commanders.

He added: “It will come as little surprise to most that a large number of RUC weapons have gone missing and have not been recovered given the extent of collusion between that force and unionist death squads.

“However, I am also concerned that since the formation of the PSNI 14 weapons have gone missing or been stolen. And there is no information held by the PSNI on missing or stolen PSNI ammunition that has been recovered.

“The public will clearly want answers how these losses occurred. I will be raising this issue at the Policing Board given the sheer numbers of police weapons that have been lost or stolen.”