Explosives, hand grenades and thousands of rounds of ammunition suitable for semi-automatic weapons and light machine guns have been stolen from the Australian Defense Forces since 2001, a leading daily The Australian reported Saturday.

The theft has raised fears that the stolen weapons could be used by terrorists, according to the paper.

Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said the navy, army andair force had reported the widespread theft of different kinds of weapons since 2001.

But a precise tally of missing equipment will never be known, because "reconciling explosives resides with the individual managers of more than 500 defense entities," Hill told parliament in a written answer to a question on notice.

Source: Xinhua