From a washing machine to an SAS rifle: All the MoD items reported lost, missing or stolen

An SAS assault rifle, police batons, hundreds of laptops – and even a £239 washing machine – are among the items reported as missing, lost or stolen from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and police forces across Great Britain over the last five years.

Freedom of Information data obtained by The i Paper reveals the scale of missing equipment recorded by the MoD and police forces between 2021-2025. The information was limited to Britain and did not cover Northern Ireland.

It says that a Colt Canada C8 assault rifle, used by the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), went missing in the last year. This is not the first time – Metro reported in January 2025 that two C8 rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition had gone missing from the MoD in 2024.

The article quotes a MoD spokesperson as saying that it takes the “security of defence assets extremely seriously” and that it takes “the necessary steps to investigate, prosecute and recover the items.”

In its history, some of the more bizarre items the MoD has reported lost include rocket launchers, a WWI German machine gun and nearly £6,000 worth of Viagra (in 2007).

Items reported lost, missing or stolen

The i Paper writes, “Survival packs, a £239 washing machine, eight helmets, 80 bullets, three body armour plates and ‘large missile cases’ were also reported as lost or stolen from various locations last year.”

The 34 police forces across England, Scotland, and Wales lost 787 devices, most of which were laptops, over the past year. This is a significant drop from the 1,436 items reported lost in 2024.

It says, “Overall, more than 5,000 UK Government and public sector weapons, ammunition and devices went missing between 2021 and 2025.”

The Metropolitan Police and Humberside Police reported losing 26 units of cartridges and rounds, along with two Tasers with four Taser cartridges. Surrey Police alone recording 23 police batons as missing in 2024. Eight more disappeared in 2025.

Loss of laptops and electronic devices

236 laptops were lost in 2022, 325 in 2023, before spiking to 969 in 2024 and then falling back considerably to 135 in 2025. Of the total 1,300 laptops lost over the period, at least 44 were reported as recovered.

Sometimes the loss of laptops is treated seriously, as The i Paper writes, “Glasgow City Council was fined £150,000 in 2013 for the loss of two unencrypted laptops, one of which contained personal details of more than 20,000 people.”

Curiously, 260 tablets were lost in 2022, 229 in 2023, but only a few dozen in 2024 and few or none in 2025. Over the five years, 327 memory sticks were lost along with a single hard drive.