§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms have been misappropriated over the last five years from(a) the police, (b) the Ministry of Defence police, (c) the Atomic Energy Authority police and (d) the armed forces. [108825]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeInformation on the misappropriation of firearms from the police service is not collected centrally, but inquiries of 41 police forces in
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Table 1: Total asylum applications received by European Union countries from 1990 to 1999 Countries 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Grand total Germany2,3 193,100 256,100 438,200 322,600 127,200 127,900 116,400 104,400 98,600 95,300 1,879,800 United Kingdom3 26,200 44,800 24,600 22,400 32,800 44,000 29,600 32,500 46,000 71,200 374,100 Netherlands 21,200 21,600 20,400 35,400 52,600 29,300 22,200 34,400 45,200 39,300 321,600 France3 54,800 47,400 28,900 27,600 26,000 20,200 17,400 21,400 22,400 30,100 296,200 Sweden 29,400 27,400 84,000 37,600 18,600 9,100 5,800 9,700 12,800 11,200 245,600 Belgium3 13,000 15,200 17,700 26,900 14,400 11,400 12,400 11,800 22,000 35,800 180,600 Austria 22,800 27,300 16,200 4,800 5,100 5,900 7,000 6,700 13,800 20,100 129,700 Spain 8,700 8,100 11,700 12,600 12,000 5,700 4,700 5,000 6,700 7,100 82,300 Denmark 5,300 4,600 13,900 14,400 6,700 5,100 5,900 5,100 5,700 6,500 73,200 Italy 4,800 26,500 6,000 1,700 1,800 1,700 700 1,900 7,100 n/a 52,200 Greece 6,200 2,700 1,900 800 1,300 1,300 1,600 4,400 3,000 n/a 23,200 Ireland 4— 4— 4— 100 400 400 1,200 3,900 4,600 7,700 18,300 Finland1 2,700 2,100 3,600 2,000 800 900 700 1,000 1,300 2,800 17,900 Luxembourg 4— 4— 4— 4— 4— 400 300 400 1,700 2,900 5,700 Portugal 100 300 700 2,100 800 500 300 300 300 n/a 5,400 England, Wales and Scotland indicate that firearms have been misappropriated from the police in only one incident over the past five years.
On 24 January 1997, an MP5 carbine was misappropriated when the police vehicle in which it was carried was hi-jacked by armed criminals. The vehicle and the weapon were recovered two days later.
No firearms are recorded as having been misappropriated from the Ministry of Defence police or the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary during the period concerned.