According to members of the 407th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment, this was one of the largest caches in southern Iraq in the past year.
After a thorough investigation, which started with a tip from neighborhood locals, Iraqi Police, under the command of Staff Maj. Gen. Sabah Al-Fatlawi, found the stockpile of weapons at a home turned into an improvised explosive device factory in the al Zahara neighborhood of Nasiriyah.
"The Iraqi police acted on their own intelligence and conducted a flawless raid on the target house,” said Maj. Sean Kuester, operations officer, 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment “Steel Tigers”, and Charlotte, N.C. native.
Following the raid intelligence, explosive ordnance disposal and combat camera specialists attached to the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division “Highlanders” assisted Iraqi police with evidence classification and inventory.
"This joint crew of advisors consisted of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. This is the first time doing joint exploitation within our brigade's area of operation with our Iraqi counterparts," said Air Force 1st Lt. Maraline Cronauer, Document and Media Exploitation Team officer-in-charge, a Virginia Beach, Va. resident. "We advise Iraqis on the best techniques to ensure the evidence can be used in the Iraqi court system."
The DOMEX team exploits documents and media from raids, target location, and detainees and provides it for evidence.
The cache consisted of 211 mortars, 90 rockets, 35 explosively formed projectile plates, 160 transmitters, assault rifles, ammunition and numerous other IED making materials.
"The significance of this cache is not registered in the amount of munitions, rockets and EFP plates but more so in the sheer number of passive inferred initiation devices that it contained,” said Merrill, Wis. native, Capt. Bill Frederick, intelligence, 1st Bn., 77th Armd. Regt. “There were enough initiation devices to conduct over 450 simple IED attacks. This was truly a remarkable find.”
“The loss of this particular cache will seriously hinder the insurgents’ ability to destroy peace in southern Iraq,” said Maj. Myles Caggins, 4th Bde., 1st Armd. Div., a spokesperson familiar with the operation. “This was a boffo find by the Dhi Qar police and displays their competence.”
