Argentina police officers fired after claiming missing marijuana was eaten by mice

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Eight officers in Argentina were dismissed from the police force. The reason? They claimed the missing marijuana from their warehouse was eaten by mice.

This was first discovered when the impounded drug, originally weighing 6,000 kilograms, was found weighing only 5,460 kilograms during a police inspection done in the city of Pilar, 60 kilometers away from Buenos Aires, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Police commissioner Emilio Portero first noticed the missing drugs, then informed the police’s internal affairs division.

Portero’s predecessor, Javier Specia, had left unsigned the seized drugs when he vacated his post last year.

When Specia and three of his subordinates were called by judge Adrián González Charvay, they all explained that it had been eaten by the rodents.

But their explanation, according to Buenos Aires University experts, was doubtful as it was impossible for mice to have eaten the marijuana. If the mice have eaten it, “a lot of corpses would have been found in the warehouse,” a spokesperson for the judge said.

The judge will still determine if the missing marijuana was a result of negligence. Specia will also be questioned why he did not present a sworn income statement for 2017.

The remaining sacked four police officers are slated to testify on May 4.  Katrina Hallare /ra

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