Documents show lack of supplies, armament in Interior Ministry

Reporting by George Hadad; Translation by Dani Murad

Despite all the huge armament contracts and deals made by regime’s ministry of interior, two official documents revealed the severe shortage in stocks in the ministry’s warehouses, and its inability to meet the demands of police headquarters in some governorates, as was mentioned previously in other documents published by Zaman Alwasl.

In an official letter dated back to mid-2012 No (8848) directed from head of administrative affairs, Major General Hamid Assad al-Murai to the Minister of Interior Mohammed al-Shaar , revealed that there was an urgent letter coming from Aleppo’s police headquarter requesting huge quantities of ammunition and weapons , and that there was a difference between what was required and what was available in the ministry’s warehouses.

In the city of Aleppo, among the 3 thousand Kalashnikov rifles requested by Aleppo‘s police headquarter, the ministry had only 282, and in terms of PK machine guns, the ministry had nothing to send to Aleppo’s police which requested 205 of this type.

The shocking comparisons are between the requested number of guns by Aleppo’s police and the available ones in the warehouses, because the ministry had only 30 Browning 9mm pistols while the required number was 3 thousand, in addition to having only 6 Maikarov (8.5 mm) guns out of the required 1000 guns.

Moreover, the ministry’s letter revealed its inability to provide Aleppo’s police with any smoke bombs of the required 2000, and that it had only 2760 tear gas canisters out of the 10 thousand wanted bombs!.

Regarding personal protective equipment, the official letter showed a large deficit in its stock, and the ministry had only 64 bullet-proof helmets while the required were 450 and 9 bullet proof vests out of the 450 requested ones.

Even the requirements of military uniforms don’t exist in the ministry’s warehouses, since no training shoes, vests, or belts are available, and all stocks of these items reached “zero " while the total requested by Aleppo’s police are nearly 15 thousand pieces , an average of 5 thousand pieces of almost every kind .

The ministry’s scary slump in stocks reached “the sponge mattresses and pillows" where Aleppo’s police requested 2000 pieces of these items, and the ministry’ reply revealed that it had only 60 mattresses and pillows!

In al Hassaka city, a recent document dating back to the last month of 2013 No 8293/W, and directed to Minister of interior, showed the continuing shortfall in stocks of weapons and ammunitions in the ministry.

The document reveals the astonishing difference between what Hasakah’s police headquarter requested, and what was available at the ministry; to the degree that the ministry was totally paralyzed to provide any RBG missiles even though what needed were only 5 missiles.

This is also applied to defensive and offensive bombs (hand grenades) as the ministry explained its inability to supply even one bomb of both types, noted that the required number by Hasakah’s police is 300.