Citing documents it said it had obtained from the federal Access to Information Act, CBC said the full extent of the problem was not known but "documents obtained ... show at least 10 sites in Canada where Armed Forces property has been found since 1997."

The state broadcaster said that in one case -- in Saskatoon, Sasketchewan -- "more than 30 kilogrammes of ammunition were seized in a soldier's house, along with weapons and a mine detonation kit. Investigators also discovered a hole in the ceiling where a bullet had been fired."

Other cases included the discovery of stolen pistols in Alberta and Ontario, crates of ammunition and smoke grenades in British Columbi, and three kiolgrammes of explosive hidden in a soldiers' barracks.

Scott Taylor, a former military officer and now publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine, said the easiest item to steal was a plastive explosive called C-4 which is handed out in large amounts at military training exercises.

Taylor said: "A lot of guys will pocket a small amount of that, if they want to collect it. Over a period of time they can accumulate some."

He said some soldiers would also avoid throwing a grenade during a live fire drill and then hide it.

The Department of National Defence documents obtained by CBC suggest that in some cases soldiers were simply wanting to keep souvenirs of their service.

But the documents also admit that some soldiers were actually selling their weapons for cash.

A Department of National Defence spokesman, Captain Mark Giles acknowledged that some weapons and ammuntion have been stolen, but claimed it was a rare event and completely stopping such thefts was cirtually impossible.

"Before and after every training exercise, before and after every operation, we conduct a complete inventory of weapons and ammunition to safeguard against that sort of thing," he told CBC.

"It's not a perfect system, but I think it's a very, very good policy. And the vast, vast majority of our personnel are meeting our high standards."

WAR.WIRE