'Six militiamen' seized in raid on garage

British soldiers delivering humanitarian rations have seized six suspected militiamen with money and guns believed to have been used to force Iraqis to fight, they revealed today.

The troops – who were carrying out “hearts and minds” work near the former militia stronghold of Al Zubayr yesterday – found military issue machine guns, caches of ammunition, an Iraqi army uniform and cash and cheques worth more than 700,000 dinar.

The six men, who were believed to have been working for a local militia leader, were seized as Category A prisoners of war and are being interrogated.

They were thought to have been using the petrol station where they were arrested as a militia base, spying on British Army movements and bribing or coercing Iraqis to fight.

The petrol station is on a main road to Al Zubayr – scene of some of the fiercest resistance of the war in southern Iraq – and outside British military checkpoints near the town, meaning it could have been used as a safe house for the money and guns.

Lieutenant Colonel Alistair Deas, the commanding officer of the 2 Close Support (2CS) Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps, whose soldiers led the swoop, said: “They seem to have been some sort of conduit for the militia.

“The money could have been used to bribe people and the guns to intimidate them.

“It’s a carrot and stick approach – they try to bribe you and if that fails, then they threaten to kill you and your family.”

Yesterday’s swoop came as seven soldiers from the regiment and an interpreter were delivering humanitarian rations and water to families near the town.

The six men and two women, who were armed, had just dropped rations with a family of four when they went into a petrol station as part of checks on how many Iraqis needed help.

They were confronted by Saddam Hussein propaganda including a poster and official paperwork bearing the legend “God Bless Saddam“.

The single attendant said the garage was no longer in use but there was fresh diesel in one of the pumps and the man himself also aroused suspicion.

“There was just one person and he looked quite well-off and much plumper and smarter than the local farmers and Bedouins,” said Captain Ken Jolley, a Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer officer attached to 2CS who has led most of the regiment’s hearts and minds work.

“He said the garage had been shut for 10 days but one of the pumps was dripping with diesel and had obviously been used.”

The man had 200,000 dinar in his wallet, mostly in 10,000 dinar notes, but claimed he only earned 1,000 dinar a month and that the rest was tips from drivers at the garage.

He refused to give the garage owner’s full name but when soldiers found it in the paperwork, it was the same name as the leader of the militia in Al Zubayr.

A search of the garage found an AK47 and a long-barrelled machine gun, both well-oiled and primed ready to fire, hidden behind corrugated iron and another AK47, an Iraqi army uniform and loaded army gun magazines hidden in blankets.

The weapons were loaded with live ammunition and tracer rounds – a clear sign they were not intended for self defence.

A safe in the garage was found to contain cheques, one for half a million dinar and two others for 50,000 dinar each.

And the roof of the garage could have been used as a vantage point to see for around six miles in all directions, monitoring British Army movements of convoys and nearby encampments, Capt Jolley said.

The attendant was told he would be taken for questioning but said he did not want to leave the garage until three men arrived who helped him guard it at night.

Capt Jolley, 40, of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, said: “His story didn’t make sense. Why have four men looking after an empty garage?

“And there is nothing you can buy in an Iraqi garage for half a million dinar.

“The man was aloof, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, but when we started asking about his boss, that’s when he started getting nervous. He was very scared about the owner.”

The man was arrested as a prisoner of war and kept in a pen at the regiment’s headquarters before being taken for interrogation.

The interpreter, a civilian working with the Army who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals against him or his family, said: “He was still very calm.

“My feeling is that it was safer for him to be a prisoner of war than for his boss to find out what had happened.”

Soldiers from the Queen’s Dragoon Guards were sent to watch the petrol station and arrested five men who arrived there last night, carrying “a great deal of money“.

They are also being treated as Category A prisoners of war and it is understood their names were known to British military officials.