Review after navy ammunition stolen

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The navy is urgently reviewing security after a man stole ammunition, flares and smoke bombs at a depot break-in on Auckland's North Shore over the weekend.

Someone was on duty at the Kauri Point ammunitions depot 24 hours a day but the burglary was not discovered until Monday morning when staff arrived at work, the navy said.

The depot is used to store a range of ammunition, bombs, missiles and torpedoes.

Armed police raided a Glenfield house yesterday and recovered a range of munitions including 5.56mm calibre rounds used in rifles, 9mm rounds used in pistols, smoke and other military pyrotechnics.

A 25-year-old man was due to appear in North Shore District Court today on a charge of burglary.

Changes had already been made to security at the depot, in the suburb of Chatswood, but the navy would not reveal details.

A review of security and processes would be done before any decision on whether anyone would be disciplined over the break in.

Detective Sergeant James Watson said police had recovered all the ammunition. No weapons or explosives were stolen.

Entry was gained after a lock was forced at the building where the ammunition was being held.

The items were at a transit facility, navy logistics commander Captain David Proctor told NZPA.

"Items are only held in a transit facility for a very short period while they are being processed, packaged for distribution elsewhere or receipt from elsewhere.

"We will review the security around that and the processing around it to ensure we can avoid such an occurrence in the future.''

Capt Proctor said the navy was "clearly concerned'' the theft was not discovered until Monday but would not say if an alarm was triggered.

"The facility at Kauri Point is safe, I wish to assure the public of that.

"We have undertaken a review of our processes and security and have done everything we can to avoid an occurrence happening into the future. What happened shouldn't have happened.''

Anyone who found any of the stolen pyrotechnics should call police, Capt Proctor said.

- NZPA