The French government have now said they will be reviewing the security at all army bases to ensure they are “adequate”.
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It has transpired the base, which stored equipment to supply French military action overseas, had no security and no CCTV – so the thieves were able to roam the 250-acre, 12-building site at leisure and without interruption.
“Very well informed” thieves broke into the Miramas arms depot northwest of Marseille, southern France, in the early hours of Monday after cutting through two wire fences, according to judicial sources.
The arms were stolen from munitions depot on the base at Miramas in Provence, Europe 1 radio claimed on Tuesday. He said the outer fences were broken into, and that nine storehouses were affected.
The investigators initially suspected that those involved in organized crime were behind the theft.
The facility, which houses some 200 soldiers, is used to stockpile weapons for foreign missions, such as those in Africa.
The mayor of Miramus, Frederic Vigouroux, said he was extremely concerned about the raid.
Police investigating the case believe the munitions were stolen overnight at the Mirimas site, which is run by a combination of military services west of Marseille.
The country is high on the hit list of Islamic State jihadists.
In the most recent attack in France, a 35-year-old man identified as Yassin Salhi beheaded his boss and tried to blow up an industrial gas plant near Lyon on June 26.
It was as yet unclear what was behind the theft in Miramas, but this is not the first time that a large quantity of explosives has been stolen in France.
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Then interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie had blamed “faults in the site’s security”.
