LONDON: The personal records of thousands of current and former Royal Air Force staff have been stolen, the British defence ministry confirmed on Friday.

Thieves stole three portable hard drives from a “double-secured area” of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency at RAF Innsworth, western England, last week and police are now investigating the incident.

“We can confirm that an investigation is being conducted by the MOD Police, with the support of Gloucestershire Police into the apparent theft of three USB portable hard disc drives,” a ministry spokesman said.

“We are taking this incident extremely seriously. In view of the ongoing nature of police enquiries, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

The data loss is the latest in a string of embarrassing such events — earlier this month, a disc containing the personal details of 5,000 justice staff went missing.—AFP