PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad ( CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago’s National Security Minister, Fitzgerald Hinds, on Monday confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the disappearance of more than 25,000 rounds of 5.56 ammunition from the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, the main ground force element of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF).

Media reports said that the 25,753 rounds of ammunition had gone missing from the 1st Engineer Battalion Bunker at the Cumuto Barracks when the ammunition had been relocated in 2022.

“Taking note of the concern that such a story would naturally raise…I requested that a thorough investigation of this matter be conducted and I have had some preliminary report (and) not yet in a position to comment publicly upon them,” Hinds said.

He said that the investigation will determine “the extent to which it might be established as true or if there are elements of it …that are untrue, or if there are elements of it that requires some deep consideration on the part of national security.

“I am aware of it and the matter I assure you will be looked into and if there is need for resolution…(it would be done) as quickly as possible,” Hinds said.

The Trinidad Express newspaper reported Monday that a three-man team has been appointed to carry out the investigation after it had reported over the weekend that the ammunition had been discovered missing earlier this month during a physical examination at the Cumuto Barracks.

The ammunition was removed from the Cumuto Barracks bunker and relocated to a nearby structure within the Barracks compound in 2022.

The newspaper said that in a February 13 special orders, Colonel Keston Charles, commanding officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, issued the special orders for the regimental enquiry, and the investigating team has been instructed to assemble and begin the probe on Monday.

The paper said that the members of the investigating team are Lt Col DS Edwards, Maj B George and M Brooks.