COPS FOUND ARMY ARSENAL IN RAID; Court told of huge ammo cache in flat.

Byline: By Ian Read

AN ARSENAL of ammunition was discovered by detectives raiding a Glasgow flat.

They found more than 2000 rounds plus smoke grenades and parachute flares, all stolen from an armoury in Kent, a court was told yesterday.

A 36-year-old colour sergeant and a 27-year-old lance corporal from 5 Scots Regiment, formerly the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, are on trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

A judge has banned identification of the two men until after the case.

A third soldier and a former soldier - both Scots - have already admitted conspiring to possess explosives and handling stolen goods.

Colour Sergeant X and Lance-CorporalY - both serving soldiers - deny stealing 554 rounds of rifle ammunition, 978 rounds of 9mm pistol ammo, 742 rounds of 12 bore anti-riot shotgun shells, smoke grenades and parachute flares.

Another small cache of prohibited hollow point ammunition was also found in a plastic bag on top of a wardrobe during the raid in Glasgow.

Anthony Prosser, prosecuting, said the flat was the home of a former sergeant in the unit.

Heroin and drug paraphernalia were also found during the swoop.

Some of the deadly items had had their Army identification numbers scratched out in a bid to disguise their origin.

Although the flat owner was not a serving soldier, he was known to have links to the Kent barracks.

Forensic experts had found traces of plastic explosive on the floor and inside kitchen cabinets.

Mr Prosser added: "A further check on the vacuum cleaner inside the flat revealed traces of RDX, a major component in military plastic explosives."

A Subaru car belonging to a former soldier from the unit was checked and more traces of RDX were found inside.

Mr Prosser said: "The Crown says this was used to transport plastic explosive from Canterbury to Glasgow."

A military identity card belonging to Y was found in the flat and DNA tests link Y to the shotgun rounds found.

On February 15 this year, the Army base was raided and seven sticks of plastic explosives, 60 firing wires and 96 detonators were found in a locker in the office of the colour sergeant.

Both Colour Sergeant X and Lance Corporal Y are Iraq veterans. They were on a fortnight's leave before deployment to Afghanistan at the time of their arrests.

X said he should have reported misuse of ammunition but decided to keep any problems within his platoon.

The court was told X was pounds 80,000 in debt at the time of his arrest.

They deny any involvement and deny three counts of conspiracy to possess explosives. The trial continues.