Paper identifies ‘sophisticated looting’ at Iraq weapons’ site

IN the weeks after Baghdad fell in 2003 looters systematically removed tonnes of equipment from Iraqi weapons’ facilities, including some with components capable of making parts of nuclear arms The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

Citing Iraq’s deputy minister of industry Sami al-Araji, the paper reported that a highly-organised operation apparently pinpointed specific plants in a quest for valuable equipment, some of which had civilian and military applications.

“They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites,” the Times quoted Mr Araji as saying. “They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want; this was sophisticated looting.”