Police have been called in to investigate the disappearance of a powerful M16 rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition from inside the Richmond Hill prison.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that a team from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) is currently carrying out the probe.

A well-placed source said that the rifle and ammunition were discovered missing on September 3 by authorities at the state run prison. Although no one has been arrested, the source said that the lawmen believe that prison officers rather than inmates at the Richmond Hill institution were more than likely involved in the alleged theft of the weapon.

In recent years, prison officers in Grenada have been under scrutiny for allegedly committing a number of breaches like helping prisoners gain access to illegal drugs and facilitating them with the smuggling of cell phones inside prison cells.

The M16 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm caliber, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed rifle that was first adopted in 1964 by the United States Air Force (USAF).

Over the years, various modified versions of the M16 design were subsequently fielded under experimental designations.