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Nearly £6,000 worth of Viagra stolen from Ministry of Defence since 2007

Drug is among millions of pounds of military stock stolen in the past seven years

Heather Saul
Tuesday 21 January 2014 11:12 GMT
(Getty Images)

Nearly £6,000 worth of Viagra and 100 bayonets are among the millions of pounds worth of military stock stolen from the Ministry of Defence in the past seven years, according to new figures released by the Government.

Figures released by the MoD show the alleged thefts total more than £7m since 2007.

The stolen items include £5,800 worth of anti-impotence Viagra pills, which is said was also used for conditions including blood pressure, and equipment from nuclear submarines from RAF Marham in Norfolk, The Times has reported.

The figures were published by the MoD in response to a written parliamentary question from Tory MP Nick de Bois.

In the past year 100 bayonets, thousands of rounds of live and blank ammunition, a Bedford truck and an industrial washing machine have all been poached from MoD sites.

Metal thieves have also stolen lead flashing and roofing, copper piping, electrical cables and radiators, as well as a £25,000 silver statue from the Household Cavalry barracks in Knightsbridge and £7,000 worth of silver cutlery from Redford Cavalry and Infantry Barracks near Edinburgh.

From 2009 to 2010 nearly £2.5m worth of equipment was stolen compared to £816,906 in 2012-2013.

Since April 2013, £572,549 of MoD property is believed to have been lost to thieves.

Defence minister Dr Andrew Murrison said: "The Ministry of Defence takes detecting and deterring fraud and theft seriously and set up a new counter fraud and loss department last year to improve the way fraud and theft is managed across defence, the aim being to minimise the losses from the defence budget from fraud, misappropriation and theft and thereby maximise the amount spent on our armed forces.

"The focus of this new department's work is to secure reduced losses caused by fraud, theft and loss, increased recovery through civil and internal procedures and the improved protection of assets through increased target hardening."

Additional reporting by Press Association

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