Sailor admits to dumping ammo off Sasebo coast

[unhappycamper]

Sailor admits to dumping ammo off Sasebo coast
By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, November 9, 2008

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — A sailor secretly dumped thousands of rounds of ammunition into the waters around Sasebo base last month, base officials and the Kyushu Defense Bureau said Friday.

The ammunition was supposed to be used in firing exercises but instead was packed into garbage bags and dropped into restricted waters at three locations Oct. 27, according to a statement released Friday by Sasebo Naval Base public affairs.

The bags were discovered the same day, and the incident was being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the base’s security department.

A second class petty officer, whose name was not released Friday, admitted to throwing the ammunition into the sea and was reassigned until the outcome of the investigation, the base said.

Base officials said the sailor said he disposed of the bags early in the morning at Hario-shima, the Maebata ordnance facility and the Akasaki fuel pier, which are spread wide across U.S. Navy facilities here.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58699