Stolen Military Equipment Being Sold Online
April 12, 2008 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Stolen military equipment including parts from F-14 fighter jets is being traded through popular websites like eBay and Craigslist.
Undercover investigators from the US Government Accountability Office used auction website eBay and social network Craigslist to purchase a dozen defence items, including fighter jet parts and biological equipment.
In a report released by the GAO today, investigators said there were “no questions asked” during the transactions.
Most of the stolen items were on the US Munitions List, which restricts their sales outside the US.
The GAO report claimed that despite regulations on eBay and Craigslist, “there are few safeguards to prevent sensitive and stolen defence-related items from being sold to either domestic or foreign users of these sites.”
“Many of the sensitive items we purchased could have been used directly against our troops and allies, or reverse engineered to develop counter measures or equivalent technologies,” the report said.
Investigators were able to purchase two parts from F-14 fighter jets, a warplane model that has been discontinued by the US army. The report noted the Iranian military was currently seeking F-14 components.
One Craigslist seller sold investigators a used Nuclear Biological Chemical protective suit and other protective gear that was likely stolen from the Defence Department, investigators said.
“Although not all of the stolen property items available on eBay and Craigslist were sensitive, each item was purchased with taxpayer money and represents a waste of resources,” the report said.
These items were “stolen military parts/equipment”. Sounds like theft of “Federal” items to me and to stop this from happening in the future, perhaps “Federal Charges” should be brought up against eBay and Craigslist. If these sources (eBay and Craigslist) were hit with some serious charges, perhaps they would monitor their systems a little closer. Face it, our country is at WAR and this is a good example of how simple it would be to cause additional harm to our troops by letting military parts/equipment to get into our enemies hands.
People have been trying to acquire defense equipment for as long as defense existed. We must keep our eyes and ears open in the current geo-political situations.
On a side note. The F-14 Tomcat were used by the Navy not the Army. (I worked on them for 5 years)