Operation Black Ice - S.O.C.A debrief

[Zulu Daddy]

Stirling Organised Crime Agency- S.O.C.A.Debrief to Sir Jonathan Brockenhurst Head of SI7

From Barry Ericson – SOCA Agent


Call sign

Spectre.

Theatre of Operations

PUKTIS Valley region, PAKTIA Mountains, AFGHANISTAN,

Mission Brief

To gather Intel on the opium trade farmers & Taliban figureheads and possible al Qaeda training camps.

To identify and obtain evidence of dealers & buyers and transporters of opium crop.

Cover Story
Private contract engineers, employed to carry out operations as engineers to aid the afghan people repair their generators & water treatment plant.

Debrief
Our base of operations was in close proximity to FOB Edinburgh and we were to liaise with the OC. For Intel on their hearts & minds operation being run by British 2 Para Units. Call sign pappa 1-3

Tasked as working as a stand alone 7 man team we were to use our cover to gain access to the afghan villages & try to locate & identify villagers & workers, by getting the Para’s to complete a census on the villagers as part of their hearts & minds, this would hopefully aid in the identification of villagers & those new to the region (which this successfully did) it also allowed a cross examination of Intel given verbally by the villagers to that taken on the Census.

Spectre were tasked to attend a local farm to repair the generator & to aid the farmer known as the shop keeper to use the new technology given to him to help him trade in the 21st Century with the use of electricity.

During this Mission we established that the shop keeper was pinnacle to a lot of the locals & was very knowledgeable on the area & its residents, and many frequented the Shopkeeper for trade purposes.
We delivered the generator to him & built up a rapport with the gent with the view to keeping him sweet to provide us with information should the need arrive.

FOB Edinburgh had received reports that locals had been injured in a contact with Taliban fighters on the WEST (Dallas) side of the region & could we go check out the area & grid reference 273330 which was a suspected target building

Acting as mobility troop with 2 quads, a buggy & a Landy we headed over to set up an O.P. of the area, from this position we could keep observations on the shopkeeper and the new target area, once our O.P was established we checked in with Pappa2 on a routine patrol & confirmed the area to be clear. We held the O.P. open for a few hours and eventually made our return to the FOB to debrief the gaffa.

Upon our return a roadside I.E.D went off taking out the front vehicle, our training & experience proved well as our spacing meant only the Lead Quad took any effect from the blast. Luckily we were able to medic the injured & the rest of us set up an all-round defence & the Person responsible for initiating the Device was captured & taken back to the FOB, where he was treated to some S.O.C.A. special questioning, he eventually (after some gentle persuasion & the loss of a few fingers) gave us what Intel he had & he was sent away to be fitted with a nice orange boiler suit and a one way ticket to guantanamo bay

As dusk approached Zero Alpha (O.C. of 2 Para) was debriefed on the situation.

We then prepared to go into night routine.
We had been informed that the journalist & cameraman from SNN (Stirling News Network) who had been documenting & reporting on the current situation had gone to give an interview arranged by the shopkeeper with a Taliban member, we had issued the reporter, camera man & a French journalist with I.R. Beacons, should they be captured they were to drop the I.R. illuminators at the point of capture & if moved, drop them on route to & at the new location. We synchronised our watches & time lined a deadline for their return, once this timescale had elapsed we were to assume the worst & make a play for them. The Journalist & his crew kept it fine & we were ready to rock when they returned, However, they had been snatched & their captors were hoping that British forces would accompany them so that they could at least take a few scalps, their plans had been hampered as our instructions were for the Crew to go alone & we would bail em out if the shit hit the fan, not wanting to risk ground troops & knowing they would return at least one or more of the journo’s, they did return with a video message for the British troops, this was then handed to the Zero Alpha for his perusal & we were tasked with the searching of the suspected location of the capture of our reporter & his crew.

Intel was flooding in from local villagers & farmers & all fingers seemed to be pointing to the school at the Madrassa and the video footage also indicated that the location may have fallen into this description.

Spectre continued on task & were patrolling on foot to suspected locations grid 275335, we picked up on the first I.R. Beacon in close proximity to the Grid reference, were several enemy were approaching us all armed.

Our unit fell into the shadows & we set up a snap ambush & within seconds the enemy were taken down, no survivors. This was radioed back to zero alpha & we continued with our tasking, we didn’t have to wait long as on approach to the Madrassa we intercepted another Taliban group of fighters, they engaged us & we returned fire, all the enemy bar 1 were taken out, the remaining insurgent made his way towards the Madrassa, our element of surprise had now been compromised & we hotfooted across enemy territory with many Taliban fighters now on our tail & on the lookout for us, we boxed round and made our return across from Dallas back to the FOB we contacted Pappa 2 who were on routine patrol & as we approached Edinburgh, The Taliban had set an assault on the FOB and pinned us down at the New York Entrance with a splintered assault. Pappa 2 assisted us as fire support allowing us to advance up to the FOB & eliminate the enemy that had infiltrated the FOB.

Once again the threat was taken down & S.O.C.A. reported back into zero alpha to debrief the situation.

Some much needed downtime ensued & we set about plans for our next outing.
Kit prep & admin was sorted.
During the early hours we got bumped in the hay barn we had been dosing in, The FOB had fallen under attack & we were pinned into the barn, as the enemy surrounded us, they were unable to see our vantage point from the hay loft & guys on the ground dropped to the sides of their cots as the rounds entered our area, brute force & some high ground saved us this time, we knew we were lucky.

Stand too was to be at 06:00hrs however an early morning call would rudely awaken the FOB, as they were again assaulted in the cover of the darkness, this time the camp had been hit hard, & the S.O.C.A 7 jumped to the stand too calls.
All enemy eradicated,

06:00hrs Stand too approached & everyone was on point.
07:00hrs stand down, called in & we prepared to go pay a visit & an early morning call to the shopkeeper, for his part in the setting up of the interview with the Taliban that resulted in the capture of the SNN crew & the French journalist.

Spectre went on foot patrol to the shopkeepers cottage, he quickly realised we were not here on polite business As he & his cousin were manhandled to the ground, so me S.O.C.A. style questioning ensued and the shopkeepers cousin lost some of his fingers from his right hand, some information & compelling evidence was found & reported in.

The shop keeper informed us that there may be a meeting of some Taliban figures at approx grid reference 273334. Once we were finished with the shopkeeper & his cousin we headed for the location & the shopkeepers Intel proved fruitful as we watched a man approach the building, Spectre moved in fast & we soon had Mehmet an undercover Jordanian in our custody, he carried some very Important Intel on him.

We didn’t have to wait long before mehmet was paid a visit by an armed Afghan; we detained him & searched him. After some vigorous questioning we decided to release Mehmet confiscated his paperwork & told him to report to the FOB to get new papers issued to him, we decided to release him at this stage because we feel he may lead us to the bigger fish namely Ikramulla Sheikh Mohammed “THE BIG MAN”

The Detained Yusuf Hamza aka Ramsey was taken back to the FOB as we escorted him across some hostile countryside we were faced with Taliban fighters who had heard the news of Ramsey’s Incarceration, an up hill forward advance to contact saw Spectre getting held on a baseline as we called the contact in Pappa Call signs flanked in & aided in the assault on the Taliban fighters and their sharp shooting sniper Mustapha Shiite was also taken in.

Once we managed to return to FOB Edinburgh we had extracted information from Yusuf Hamza & the Intel gathered throughout our mission.

Conclusion

Our mission was to locate & identify Opium Traders & Farmers & Possible Taliban Figure heads.

What we actually achieved was that

That HMMA members will arrive in Heathrow London.

Mohammed Wali & Rehman Mahmond will await the arrival of Mustapha Shiite & Yusaf Hamza (detained by S.O.C.A.) this information has been forwarded to SI7 agents who are currently locating the named men or will intercept them at Heathrow airport on the 6th February.

The Sheikh & his fixer will be in London also although no confirmed identity of the sheikh has been established; SI7 agents & S.O.C.A. agents can build up a profile & hopefully crumble the HMMA organisation.

We also have some Intel on Syid bin AL Shibh who is the terror camp trainer.

S.O.C.A agents will continue to work within the paktia region & all Intel has been forwarded to homeland security & SI7.


S.O.C.A. intercepted information on a terrorist attack on the British transport system on 7th February.

It is in my belief that this mission was a huge success in the disruption of an Al- Qaeda terror cell & in the prevention of a terrorist attack on mainland Britain.

We now have Intel to work with & our Progress & mission continues.

All S.O.C.A agents on this operation worked above & beyond the call of duty sir. I would just like that to be noted of my men.


Special Agent Barry Ericson
T.L. Spectre
Stirling Organised Crime Agency S.O.C.A.