40,000 bullets go missing from Antrim police training college

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have had to make the humiliating admission that vast quantities of lethal ammunition have disappeared from the Antrim training college at which they’re stored. The 40,000 rounds of 9mm ammo were intended for use with the Glock 17 pistol issued to all police officers in the North of Ireland. Cops in the region are also permitted to carry the weapons when off-duty. In England, Scotland and Wales firearms are only carried by specialist teams.

The bullets could potentially be used by weapons other than the Glock, including those in the hands of paramilitary groups. These groups were meant to have fully decommissioned as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, but many remain involved in ongoing criminal activity, particularly drug crime. The last report of the Independent Reporting Commission, which tracks the status of paramilitary activity in the North of Ireland, details significant numbers of guns still being found by police. Between November 2017 and June 2024, over “409 weapons and firearms” were found as part of work carried out by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force.

“Frankly unbelievable” – deadly ammo likely taken over long period

Some of the missing rounds have been accounted for by the PSNI, turning up at a private gun club, and the Belfast Telegraph reports that a “senior serving cop has been arrested” in connection with the apparent theft. His home has also been searched. The paper quotes a former officer saying:

This is frankly unbelievable that 40,000 rounds of ammunition could be taken off a supposedly secure PSNI facility and nobody noticed.

To describe security here as lax is the understatement of the year. How can we be sure one or more of these bullets won’t end up in the hands of criminals or paramilitaries?

This didn’t just happen overnight. Given we live in a country with dozens of dangerous organised crime gangs and paramilitary groups – many whose aim in life is to shoot dead police officers – this is nothing short of disgraceful.

Given the quantity of rounds missing, it is believed they were removed from the training centre over a long period. The shooting range is used to train officers in use of firearms, and to engage in regular target practice. An ex-cop went on to describe the process officers are subject to when using the site:

Officers have to go to one of three training colleges – Garnerville, Ballykinlar or The Steeple – to do a firearms test.

When you go you have to have 50 rounds already yourself and you fire these at targets and if you score between 45 and 50 you pass and when you leave you are given 50 brand new rounds.

If I had gone up there and was a round short I’d have been in big trouble if I couldn’t account for that one round – so if 40,000 have gone missing it’s mind-boggling.

Bullets disappearance compounds previous data breach

The PSNI’s statement on the matter reads:

A serving police officer was arrested on the 8th of October 2025 and, following premises searches, a significant quantity of suspected stolen ammunition has been recovered. The officer has been suspended.

The missing ammunition is another concerning case of PSNI incompetence, potentially compounding another incident in August 2023, which inadvertently revealed:

…surnames, initials, ranks and roles of all 9,483 PSNI officers and staff.

The matter was the result of an error while fulfilling a Freedom of Information request, and resulted in a £750,000 fine from the Information Commissioner. This would have been £5.6 million had the PSNI’s financial position not been considered. Compensation proceedings are ongoing, and the Treasury has rejected a PSNI request for £119 million to settle the claims.

The Belfast Telegraph raises the fear that these two incidents combined may lead to an increased risk to police from dissident republican groups. However, those under greater threat of violence from guns remain people who have attracted the ire of paramilitaries for other reasons. Though even this risk is significantly diminished from previous peaks, with 8 casualties of paramilitary style shootings being recorded in 2024/25, and just one of these attributed to republicans.

Less time arresting innocent grannies, more time keeping track of ammo

The other concern ought to be the PSNI’s deployment of its apparently scant resources. In recent months, large number of officers have been sent to Palestine protests in Belfast to clamp down on the free speech of those supporting Palestine Action. Those in London rallying around the direct action group that successfully targeted factories of Israeli genocidaire Elbit Systems have also been joined by officers dressed in bottle-green. Just today, two officers turned up at the house of a 73 year-old grandmother to harass her for wearing the wrong t-shirt.

Clearly, when a force can’t even do the basics, like keeping track of where its lethal material is, it shouldn’t be pissing away resources on thought control operations in another country or haranguing people for no justifiable reason at their home. Justice Minister Naomi Long described the ammunition loss as “profoundly concerning” but declined to comment further lest she “jeopardise [their] work” in investigating. Given the PSNI have been jeopardising both public freedom and public safety, perhaps it’s time the minister started sticking her nose in their business a little more.

Featured image via the Canary