Release # 03-05-80

Coalition and Iraqi Police Work to Make Iraq Secure

CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- Coalition Forces continue to aggressively patrol Iraq safer to eliminate smuggling weapons, trade and explosives. Coalition Forces also continue to conduct joint security patrols with Iraqi police in their efforts to increase the professionalism of the police force and prepare them for their role in a self-governed Iraq.

Number Eight of the "Top 55" Captured

Aziz Salih Hasan Numan Al-Hafaji, #8 on the "Top 55" list and the "King of Diamonds" was captured by Coalition Forces yesterday in Baghdad. Al Numan was the Ba'ath Party Regional Command Chairman in the former regime and responsible for West Baghdad. During the Gulf War, Al Numan was appointed Governor of Kuwait, and alleged to have been responsible for murdering, raping, torturing and deporting numerous Kuwaiti citizens. After the war, he was involved with the suppression of the uprisings in southern Iraq. As governor of Karbala and An Najaf, he was known to be brutal in his squelching of public dissonance and protest. He is the 27th Iraqi on the "Top 55" list captured to date.

Third Armored Cavalry Soldiers Seize Gold

Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) seized a large quantity of what may be gold bars during a routine traffic control vehicle search in Al Qaim yesterday. The bars will be tested to identify their contents.

Soldiers conducted a search of a Mercedes truck driven by two individuals and discovered approximately 2,000 40-pound bars measuring 4" x 5" x 10". The occupants told the soldiers that they had been paid a total of 350,000 Dinars (or $350 U.S.) to pick up the truck in Baghdad and drive it to an unnamed individual in Al Qaim. The two had been told that the bars were bronze.

The bars may have a total worth of $500,000,000, depending on karat weight and purity.

The truck, bars and two individuals are in the custody of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment pending a thorough investigation.

Coalition Activity:

First Battalion, 4th Infantry Division soldiers raided an arms market near Samarra yesterday morning. They detained 9 individuals and seized 10 AK-47 rifles, 4 sniper rifles and 2 crates of ammunition.

In Al Hillah, the 551st Military Police Company employed its four platoons to patrol the city to provide maximum exposure and conducted a security class for 32 hospital workers.

In Mosul, Iraqi police are now guarding nine government gas stations, the government building, and the UN building.

While on patrol, Marines from the 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment confiscated a pistol and drugs believed to be methamphetamines at a vehicle checkpoint in Karbala yesterday. They detained three individuals turned them over to the local Iraqi police.

Marines from the 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment apprehended an individual for selling fuel out of his tanker truck in Karbala yesterday. He was released after the remaining fuel in his truck was placed in the central storage facility.

Four gunmen engaged UK soldiers in Al Amarah yesterday when they responded to a local civilian man's complaint that a grenade was thrown at his house. They returned fire at the Iraqi gunmen who fled into another building and escaped. No UK soldiers were hurt.

Police Activity in the Last 24 Hours:

Coalition Forces conducted six raids and 1,528 patrols throughout Iraq. Of those patrols, 163 were conducted with Iraqi Police. They also detained or arrested 150 individuals. A couple of police activities include:

A joint Iraqi and 615th Military Police Company patrol investigated a report by a local man that an individual was firing a weapon at his family. A man and woman believed to have been involved in the shooting were detained for questioning and later released to their families. Iraqi police are continuing to investigate a report that a small boy was injured in the incident and taken to a hospital by passers-by. There were no weapons recovered. Iraqi police IPF stated that a small boy had been injured. They stated that the boy's name was unknown and an individual passing by in a car took him to the hospital. The individuals detained were questioned and released to their families.

A 615th Military Police Battalion patrol responded to a report that shots had been fired near the Khadra Police Station. Military and Iraqi policeman, and an element of 2d Battalion, 70th Infantry Regiment cordoned off the area. Two men fled into a building when Coalition and Iraqi forces arrived. One of the Iraqis was wounded when a soldier returned fire after one of the Iraqis fired at the patrol as he was running away. Both Iraqis escaped.

No injuries were sustained by the Iraqi police or U.S. forces. The Iraqi Police are conducting an investigation.