BASRA, 14 April 2003 — British Army engineers abandoned their search yesterday for prisoners that locals said were trapped in underground cells beneath the bombed-out ruins of a prison complex in the southern city of Basra.
“They found nothing of any substance,” an officer with the Scottish Black Watch Regiment said. “On current information, our investigations have been completed.”
Members of the Royal Engineers, attached to the Black Watch, had moved into the sealed-off area at first light with two heavy earthmovers as well as pneumatic drills, but they abandoned the search around six hours later.
On Saturday night, desperate residents, who said they had heard voices coming from underground, burrowed into the soil with their bare hands amid rumors that there were prisoners held somewhere deep below. Hundreds of people swarmed into the area after the British gave up their search and continued frantic efforts to make contact with anyone suspected of being trapped in the cells under the complex, which also houses a police station.
Abud Ali, a teacher at a nearby school, said it was widely believed that Kuwaitis captured after Iraq invaded its tiny southern neighbor in 1990, setting off the first Gulf War, were being held there. “This building was opened in 1968 but no one knows what is going on in there. There must be secret tunnels but even people who have worked here do not know all about them.”
Earlier, Capt. Justin Prowse with the Black Watch said there had been “no evidence so far apart from local information” to back up the claims that the sound of banging and voices had been heard. But he said some basement cells had been found and that hooks were hanging from the ceilings.
Prowse said it was not firm proof that torture had been carried out in the cells but it appeared that prisoners had been held in sub-human conditions.
