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Afghan Police Arrest British Security Contractors For ‘Arms Transport’

Afghan Police Arrest Private Security Contractors For Arms Transport

(File Photo)

(The Blaze/AP)- Afghan police arrested two British private security contractors and two Afghan colleagues and ordered their company closed down after finding a cache of weapons in their vehicle, an official said Thursday. They are being held for investigation into illegal arms transport.

Their detention spells the latest trouble for Afghanistan’s dozens of private security companies that guard supply convoys, development projects and private businesses. President Hamid Karzai has ordered all the protection companies shut down by March, to be replaced by a unified government-run protection force.

Police who stopped the contractors’ vehicle at a Kabul checkpoint Tuesday found more than two dozen AK-47 rifles in a metal box covered by a blanket, Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqi told a press briefing.

All 30 weapons had their serial numbers scratched off, and the men had no permits for them, so police arrested all four men on suspicion of illegal arms transport, Sediqi said. He said the case has been sent to Afghanistan’s attorney general for investigation.

Authorities ordered the immediate shutdown of Afghanistan operations of their company, the international security consulting firm GardaWorld, and are questioning other company employees.

“They have to pay all the dues they owe to the government of Afghanistan, and they cannot operate any more after that,” Sediqi said.

GardaWorld specializes in high-risk areas around the world, with offices in Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Haiti. It provided security for Afghanistan’s 2005 National Assembly elections.

The firm said Thursday that it was cooperating with the Afghan investigation. A statement indicated it did not own the AK-47s but was in the process of buying them through legal channels.

“The weapons in question were being taken to be tested at a firing range before being purchased and properly licensed by GardaWorld,” the company said. “We fully comply with all laws and regulations in our Afghanistan operations and are making every effort to work closely with the Afghan authorities to rectify the situation as soon as possible.”

A spokesman for the British Embassy said it was monitoring the case and providing consular services to the two British citizens.

Afghanistan has been scrambling to train guards for its own government security service – called the Afghan Public Protection Force, or APPF – since Karzai late last year ordered all 103 private security companies closed by March 2012.

Karzai has said the private security firms undermine the Afghan police and army forces, creating effective militias that often flout Afghan laws and regulations.

Afghan Police Arrest Private Security Contractors For Arms Transport

Controversies caused by some contractors’ behavior, ranging from violence to cultural insensitivity, has given the industry a bad name among many Afghans.

In 2008, guards from the American security giant Blackwater Worldwide – now known as Xe Services – forced an Afghan soldier to the ground and handcuffed him after he refused to let their vehicle pass through a checkpoint.

And in 2005, three DynCorp International guards assigned to Karzai’s own protective detail caused a scene in the VIP lounge of the Kabul airport while awaiting a flight. “They had been intoxicated, loud and obnoxious,” according to an internal company report. DynCorp, also a U.S. firm, fired the three guards.

So far, 57 of the private security companies have been shut down in Afghanistan, Sediqi said Thursday. Another 46, half of them Afghan firms and half international, are still operating but officials have vowed to close them by March, according to the Interior Ministry.

The new Afghan force will need to train 25,000 guards to take over all the work performed by privately contracted guards, according to a U.S. government report released in October.

Recruitment has been slow. As of late last year, the APPF had only about 6,500 guards trained, the U.S. report said. The NATO force in Afghanistan has offered help to speed up the training of the Afghan guards.

If the Afghan government is not ready to take over by March, there is a provision for 12-month extension that would allow the private firms to continue operating. Karzai originally set a deadline to shut down private contractors by the end of 2010, but it was pushed back to this year.

Comments (31)

  • babylonvi
    Posted on January 6, 2012 at 5:57pm

    AKs with filed off SNs does sound a bit fishy, but if the soldiers go and the mercs go, who will guard the CIA’s opium operations? Surely you don’t expect them to do it themselves, do you?

    Report Post » babylonvi  
  • Socialism_Is_The_New_Black
    Posted on January 6, 2012 at 6:21am

    @coindexter Really? Apples and Oranges much? What’s the mission? Why are we still there? It’s been 10 years, what’s your solution?

    Report Post »  
    • rhettnc
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 7:17am

      How about letting the military win, by letting them kill the enemy? War is not suppose to be pretty. End the war even if you have to kill every man, woman and child. Make THEM want to end it.

      Report Post »  
  • blackstone22
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 11:49pm

    There is no hope for Afghanistan.

    Report Post »  
    • Rational Man
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 12:19am

      Sad but true. Since that is the case, this would be a good excuse to pull everyone out and leave them to their own demise. It‘s pretty obvious that we can’t save the world. Not to mention, we can’t afford it.

      Report Post » Rational Man  
    • coindexter
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 12:45am

      O.K. so you all are for ron pau’sl foreign policy

      Report Post »  
    • Rational Man
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:04pm

      @coindexter

      If that was all there was to the creepy little freak’s foreign policy, then I would say yes.
      But his “Ostrich Policy” toward Iran and isolationism ain’t cuttin it for anyone but the very dull of wit.

      Report Post » Rational Man  
  • paperpushermj
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 11:41pm

    So Karzai wants the monopoly on guards In Afghanistan. SWEET

    Report Post » paperpushermj  
  • bmel
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:46pm

    with “contractors” out of the way,Karizi and his cronies can do what they want.A thief named Hassan was once city mgr of winters tx went over there to translate.He managed a little city made lots of city $$$ go away to his friends wrote a book detailing how he survived the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan .Last one to survive ect. ect. but see he was the “last” to survive.He was their minister of finance.So he is right at home where money not his disappears. Karizi may be putting him on the payroll.

    Report Post »  
  • jungle J
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:35pm

    prepare the moab’s and prepare to make iraq our 51st state next time.

    Report Post »  
  • Charles
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:25pm

    Pull the mercenaries and US military out of there and let them all kill each other in cave to cave 7th century combat.

    Report Post »  
  • TRILO
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:22pm

    They should have said they work for Eric Holder.

    Report Post » TRILO  
  • WAKEUPUSA2012
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:17pm

    The US and NATO forces grow the opioum in Afghanstain. They ship drugs and arms. Our government is outta control. Wake up. Have some coffee. Get with the program.

    Report Post » WAKEUPUSA2012  
    • paperpushermj
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 11:47pm

      Can’t someone Please come up with some plant disease or bug that just loves the opium plant.

      Report Post » paperpushermj  
  • lobo2525
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:15pm

    All those international companies will hit the road, they will not stay and be guarded by pure Afghans. But hey …………our new Policy is invade a country and then let that country tell you what the rules are

    Report Post » lobo2525  
  • lobo2525
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:12pm

    This is all B S … you can not trust anything the “Afghan gov” comes out with I drove thru Kabul 100s of times and we would get shaken downs from the Police all the time..sometimes taking our weapons, sometimes wanting bribes, Its very dangerous for all contractors now…………………As We have no B@LL.s in washington to protect our citizens working aboard

    Report Post » lobo2525  
  • bjornskis
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:08pm

    maybe the real story is they are interfering with Hamid Karzai drug lords and money stream

    Report Post »  
  • Firefighter 538
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:58pm

    It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.
    GEORGE WASHINGTON

    Report Post » Firefighter 538  
  • Reavin
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:53pm

    Who buys two dozen AK’s with their serial numbers removed? Nobody legit, I tell you.

    Report Post »  
  • Fus Patrol
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:20pm

    Umm, sounds like we are not wanted. Fine, let’s leave and let them sort it out.

    Report Post »  
  • Anamah
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:59pm

    And…What are our troops doing in Africa? Where are our soldiers???

    Report Post »  
    • TXPilot
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:18pm

      “Private security contractors” is P.C. speak for what we used to call soldiers of fortune or mercenaries…..because, in confusion, there is profit.

      Report Post » TXPilot  
    • Norm D. Plume
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:39pm

      Afghanistan is not in Africa.

      Report Post » Norm D. Plume  
    • Mateytwo Barreett
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 10:22pm

      @Norm
      Afganistan is not in Africe- but Uganda is.

      Report Post » Mateytwo Barreett  
  • Anamah
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:55pm

    We have our enemy within, Afghan and Irak are lost. Americans were too naïve , and still are.

    Report Post »  

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