http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/3349.htm
GRENADE GIZMOS VANISH IN QUEENS
By LARRY CELONA and ALY SUJO
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August 17, 2003 -- Army investigators, along with the NYPD and the FBI, are searching for a pair of grenade launchers that disappeared from an Army supply depot in Queens, The Post has learned.
Law-enforcement sources said the missing weapons have a 400-yard range - and investigators fear terrorists might get hold of them.
"We would like to find these grenade launchers before they get into the wrong hands," one source said.
Cops and the FBI were brought into the search for the M-203 launchers after an Army sergeant walked into the 107th Precinct station house in Queens on Thursday - just hours before the blackout - to ask the NYPD for help.
The launchers had been stored at the Army depot at 168-10 Goethals Ave. in Hillcrest and were part of a large cache of weapons shipped to Fort Stewart, Ga., on March 1.
They eventually were supposed to be sent to Iraq - but the Army shipped them back to New York on March 18.
Ten of the launchers were then discovered missing a few days later.
Army investigators quietly began their own search - which turned up eight of them.
It was not immediately clear why the Army waited so long to report the missing weapons to law-enforcement agencies.
It was also not clear last night whether ammunition was also missing from the Queens installation.
One source speculated that the Army finally decided to involve the NYPD and FBI after officials read front page stories last week about a British arms dealer arrested in a sting at Newark Airport.
The dealer, Hemant Lakhani, thought he was selling surface-to-air missiles to terrorists who would use them to bring down a U.S. jetliner, officials charged.
His customer, however, turned out to be an undercover FBI agent who arrested him.
Two alleged money launderers who allegedly were part of the plot were also busted.
Lt. Col. Rudy Burwell, an Army spokesman, said he could not immediately confirm that two launchers are still missing.
But, he said, if they are "it's very serious."
The M-203 provides "accurate, lethal grenade fire" designed to "deter, and if necessary compel adversaries," according to an Army Web site.
The lightweight shoulder-fired weapon, designed as the replacement for the M-79 grenade launcher used in Vietnam, is a high-trajectory battlefield weapon which attaches to a rifle.
The pump-action sliding barrel weighs 31/2 pounds when fully loaded and has a maximum range of 400 yards.
GRENADE GIZMOS VANISH IN QUEENS
By LARRY CELONA and ALY SUJO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 17, 2003 -- Army investigators, along with the NYPD and the FBI, are searching for a pair of grenade launchers that disappeared from an Army supply depot in Queens, The Post has learned.
Law-enforcement sources said the missing weapons have a 400-yard range - and investigators fear terrorists might get hold of them.
"We would like to find these grenade launchers before they get into the wrong hands," one source said.
Cops and the FBI were brought into the search for the M-203 launchers after an Army sergeant walked into the 107th Precinct station house in Queens on Thursday - just hours before the blackout - to ask the NYPD for help.
The launchers had been stored at the Army depot at 168-10 Goethals Ave. in Hillcrest and were part of a large cache of weapons shipped to Fort Stewart, Ga., on March 1.
They eventually were supposed to be sent to Iraq - but the Army shipped them back to New York on March 18.
Ten of the launchers were then discovered missing a few days later.
Army investigators quietly began their own search - which turned up eight of them.
It was not immediately clear why the Army waited so long to report the missing weapons to law-enforcement agencies.
It was also not clear last night whether ammunition was also missing from the Queens installation.
One source speculated that the Army finally decided to involve the NYPD and FBI after officials read front page stories last week about a British arms dealer arrested in a sting at Newark Airport.
The dealer, Hemant Lakhani, thought he was selling surface-to-air missiles to terrorists who would use them to bring down a U.S. jetliner, officials charged.
His customer, however, turned out to be an undercover FBI agent who arrested him.
Two alleged money launderers who allegedly were part of the plot were also busted.
Lt. Col. Rudy Burwell, an Army spokesman, said he could not immediately confirm that two launchers are still missing.
But, he said, if they are "it's very serious."
The M-203 provides "accurate, lethal grenade fire" designed to "deter, and if necessary compel adversaries," according to an Army Web site.
The lightweight shoulder-fired weapon, designed as the replacement for the M-79 grenade launcher used in Vietnam, is a high-trajectory battlefield weapon which attaches to a rifle.
The pump-action sliding barrel weighs 31/2 pounds when fully loaded and has a maximum range of 400 yards.
