65 wanted persons, suspects arrested, arms seized in Basra

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Policemen arrested 65 wanted persons and suspects and seized arms, munitions and unlicensed vehicles and motorbikes during a large scale raid in different areas of Basra on Thursday, a local security source said. “In search raids in several areas of Basra, 20 men wanted on terrorist and criminal charges and 45 suspects were arrested,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The raiding force also seized two Kalashnikov assault rifles, one RPK rifle with their ammunition and 16 munitions caches, in addition to a hand-grenade and 23 unlicensed vehicles and 13 unlicensed motorbikes,” the source added. Earlier on Thursday (April 9), a source from the Basra police department’s information & relations office told IraqiNews.com that 20 wanted persons and suspects were arrested and unlicensed vehicles and motorbikes were seized in a wide-scale crackdown in different areas of the province, adding an improvised explosive device was defused in central Basra. The oil-rich port city of Basra lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P) 1