posted on April 28, 2006 10:36:16 AMStolen US military secrets on sale in Afghanistan
Fri Apr 28, 12:12 AM ET
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AFP) - Computer disks stolen from a US base in Afghanistan said to contain military secrets are on sale in a bazaar despite an ongoing investigation and a security clampdown, witnesses said.
Dozens of memory chips are openly displayed for sale in shops at the public bazaar in Bagram, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kabul, where the base is located.
The US military spokesman at Bagram Air Base, Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick, said the scam was being investigated, but did not rule out that discs containing sensitive information were still being smuggled out.
"I think it's possible," Fitzpatrick said.
"Bagram and other coalition bases are taking significant steps to investigate and to review and update policies regarding the physical security of materials."
Earlier this month the Los Angeles Times reported the information included classified military assessments of enemy targets, names of Afghan officials alleged to be corrupt and details of American defences and personnel.
The data was smuggled out of the main US military base at Bagram on flash memory drives stolen from computers by Afghan cleaners and garbage collectors working inside the compound, the paper said.
The computer drives were sold in the bazaar along with other used goods, like knives and combat fatigues, it said. They fetched between 20 and 80 dollars.
Since the report, the US military has bought up several of the devices and tightened security, but a shopkeeper told AFP the information was still being smuggled out, mainly by Afghans working as laundry collectors.
"No one, but no one can stop them," the shopkeeper told AFP, requesting not to be identified by name.
A man who works in the base, which is home to thousands of US soldiers, said the security was tight and any Afghan workers entering or leaving the base were being screened by guards at the gates.
"The search has become very tight since two weeks," said the worker, who asked not to be named.
Shopkeepers did not allow potential buyers to check the contents and a source at the Bagram base said some of the disks were brand new, brought from Kabul in the hope of selling them back to American soldiers.
"I believe some of the equipments are unused and brought from other places such as Kabul. They (traders) bring them to trick US soldiers," the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
The United States has some 19,000 troops running an anti-insurgency operation in Afghanistan since toppling the hardline Taliban in late 2001.
Bagram is the force's main base in Afghanistan from where it coordinates and launches its strikes against Taliban and other militants.
