Royal Marines spark major security alert after losing assault rifle at national park
ELITE Royal Marines sparked a major security alert when they lost a deadly assault rifle at a national park.
The commandos misplaced the weapon during drills on rainswept Dartmoor — which is popular with wild campers.
Top brass halted the exercise and ordered a massive fingertip search for the SA80 automatic rifle.
But they were forced to alert Devon and Cornwall Police after failing to recover the gun.
It is still missing.
A source said: “Losing your weapon is one of the worst things a marine or a soldier can do.
“The worst case scenario is this gun falls into criminal hands.
“It could be found by a rambler or even by kids on a wilderness walk.”
The marines were involved in a leadership course late last month.
The source added: “These were marines competing for a promotion.
“It is really embarrassing.”
It was the first time a working assault rifle has been lost or stolen for more than two years.
At least eight guns have been lost or stolen, including two working machine guns, since 2020.
The MoD revealed it lost a deactivated AK47 assault rifle, a GPMG machine gun and a Glock X43 pistol last year.
The SA80 is the armed forces’ standard issue rifle and deadly at over 400 metres.
It fires .556 calibre ammunition at a speed of 940 metres per second.
Navy sources insisted the weapon was not loaded when it went missing.
The Royal Navy confirmed: “We are investigating an incident related to the loss of an unloaded rifle by the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines.”
A police source said they were aware of the incident.