The missing engines.

Bernama Report:

Quote:

Only rank-and-file personnel and not senior military officers were involved in the theft of the two engines of F-5E jet fighters of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said today (4 January 2010).

He said the decision on whether to charge those involved in the incident would be made "in the very near future".

He also said that all efforts would be made by the government to recover as soon as possible the two missing engines, last traced to Uruguay."We are now engaging into mutual legal assistance procedures with certain countries in trying to get those engines back," he told reporters.

Abdul Gani said the police had completed their investigation into the missing engines, which revealed that they were sent to an address in Subang Jaya, Selangor, on Dec 30, 2007 and Jan 1 last year."The military realised the loss only on May 22, 2008 and, when they found out, they proceeded with the investigation and then on Aug 4, 2008, a police report was made."On May 4, 2008, a container carrying the engines was shipped abroad and we traced it to Argentina, and from Argentina, the engines were offloaded onto another ship to Uruguay," he said.

Abdul Gani said Interpol was aware of the case, and added that he believed that the United States was also aware, based on the published reports.

Asked about the buyer of the engines, Abdul Gani said he could not say anything about that because the investigation for their recovery was still going on.

Asked how much the actual cost of an engine was, he said one should be realistic about it as the jets were bought in 1975. – Bernama

Unquote:



There are many questions arising from the above:

1) Our rank and file personnel in RMAF are that smart? Our SPM and SRP standard must be world class.
2) Our rank and file personnel in RMAF have international connection to dispose the engine? They outsmart the Italian Mafia.
3) If you are dealing with container shipment the flow of operations can be easily traced. The Shipper, the Haulier, the Forwarding Agent, Custom & Eksais DiRaja, Manifest, Bill of Ladindg, Custom Declaration, the Container Ship Carrier and the Consignee. The chain of event is normal to any container shipment everywhere in the world.
4) In the first instance, was the engine really shipped out?
5) Is it possible that the engines had been cannibalized and shipped out into smaller items as spare parts?
6) Is it possible that the cannibalized parts still lying around in Kepong or Jinjang Chinaman Workshop?
7) RM 50 million, the cost of one F-5E engine? It should be cheaper than that.
8) If F-5E engine could go missing from the RMAF inventory, have the Government look into other items that also had gone missing?
9) What sort of security RMAF implement at the entrance to the Store Complex? In and out vehicle not recorded?
10) What sort of SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) our RMAF implementing? In particular, store inventories?

In any Installation or complex, stringent security measures must be implemented. The control of in and out is prime important otherwise things can go missing easily. If collusion was the reason then the shipping operations can be referred to. Whatever, the person in charge is still responsible? Though Senior Officers were not involved but they must also take the blame and the accountability.

I am saddened by the lack of trust of certain people whom we entrusted to look after our nation security and wealth. For their personal greed, the nation lost its reputation. Whom can I trust anymore in this country?

At the end of the day, my gut feeling this particular case of the missing F-5E engines would just be a minor episode or just forgotten. The poor Private and Lance Corporal would take the blame and quietly sent to Kajang or Sungai Buloh to take a rest.

I too want to take a rest because I am just plain FED UP. I paid my income tax and cigarettes tax so that the Government could purchase the F-5E to look after my country air space. How can they just bugger up with my hard earned money???