HC Deb 07 May 1987 vol 115 c529W
Mr. Hoyle

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the nature of the witness evidence received which led to the commanding officer of 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps to authorise the search of the Navy, Army, Air Force Institutes hostel at Salamanca barracks, Soest; what were the alleged stolen goods; how many residents are at the hostel; how many military personnel were involved; and why a sniffer dog was used.

Mr. Freeman

Witness evidence was received to the effect that certain residents of the NAAFI had been carrying numerous items of electrical equipment to and from their rooms. Witness evidence was also received which indicated that one of the residents had been regularly seen fitting radios to privately owned vehicles in the barracks. There were six residents at the hostel at the time of the search and six royal military police were involved, one for each resident. A sniffer dog was used because information received from an additional source gave reasonable grounds to suspect that proscribed drugs were being used on the premises.