Asia-Pacific News
Soldier jailed for stealing rocket launchers
By DPA
May 15, 2008, 8:15 GMT

Sydney - An Australian soldier was jailed Thursday for stealing and selling rocket launchers he must have known might end up being used by terrorists.

Nine of the 10 rocket launchers sold on the black market remain missing five years after the crime was committed.

Shane Della-Vedova, 46, was sentenced to 10 years' jail after pleading guilty to stealing and selling the rocket launchers to a convicted criminal with terrorist links.

Della-Vedova was told to destroy the weapons but sold them instead.

'His offending, by the sale of these weapons to known criminals, strikes at the very heart of state and federal security,' Judge Jonathan Williams said. He rejected Della-Vedova's claims he did not think the weapons might fall into the hands of terrorists.

'He was either prepared to turn a blind eye to those probabilities or acted in reckless disregard of them,' he said. 'The very things that he said he didn't consider were those things he was paid and trained to consider.'

The rockets launchers have a range of 200 metres and are small and easy to conceal.