US military secrets for sale at Bazaar - report

Tiny stolen computer drives containing secret US military information are on sale at a market in Afghanistan, it was reported today.

The Los Angeles Times said the flash memory drives, which are smaller than a packet of chewing gum, were being sold at a bazaar just 200 yards from the main gate of the American base in Bagram.

According to the newspaper their contents include classified military assessments of enemy targets, names of corrupt Afghan officials and descriptions of American defences.

Shop owners at the bazaar told the LA Times that Afghan cleaners, bin men and other workers from the base sell all sorts of stolen goods every day, ranging from the drives to refrigerators and packets of Viagra.

They are supposed to be frisked on the way out but apparently evade suspicion in some cases by hiding the drives behind photo IDs worn in holders around their necks.

The newspaper said a reporter had obtained several drives at the market containing documents marked “Secret“, the contents of which included documents that were potentially embarrassing to US ally Pakistan and presentations naming suspected militants targeted for “kill or capture“.

Discussions of American attempts to “remove” or “marginalise” Afghan government officials considered “problem makers” by the military were reportedly also found.

And there were also said to be documents identifying nearly 700 US service personnel and their Social Security numbers – information the report claimed identity thieves could use to open credit card accounts in soldiers’ names.

One flash drive was reported to contain a a map showing which US camps and bases in Iraq had deployed a sophisticated anti-mortar radar in March 2004.

Several documents showed that the US military has had trouble breaking militant command and supply lines traced to Pakistan, despite officials’ praise for the country as a loyal ally in the war on terror, the LA Times reported.

Others were said to accuse Pakistan’s security forces of helping militants launch cross-border attacks on US and allied forces.

Lieutenant Mike Cody, a spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan, declined to comment to the newspaper.

“We do not discuss issues that involve or could affect operational security,” he said.