European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sis Palo by Gus Scheuttle sleeping begs ate among the military goods that often and up on the shelves of Saplut stores. Surplus stores do big business with stolen military equipment by William h. Inman United press International the Novice businessman worried the newspaper and was t nearly big enough was a Slider of a Nolice after All a Quarter Inch linger o Agate Type tucked away in Sheback of i he classifieds. Bull he investors were in a shoestring budget so head promoting the opening of their new us plus store would have to do As n Lunod out the and was plenty big. The store located outside Camp fend Elan cafil., was soon throbbing with business Sellers not buyers. In fact within months. Golden slate surplus had to double ils floor space to 3.000 Square feel slash operating hours and reduce purchases to accommodate its overflowing inventory Golden state surplus was also the front far a Federal sing operation we thought we d Nab a Tew marines but we did t expect to find 85 percent of our customers on Active duty says Pam Naughton assistant . Attorney and chief prosecutor. Ltd purchased during Ifie 1&month sting included More than a thousand m-17 Gas masks crates of flak jackets steel helmets night Mission sight scapes for Lanks and forklift loads of canned rations All pane. 16 the stars and stripes exchanged for pennies on the Dollar of their True value. Some of the More exotic goods radar Del leding camouflage Nels required by dealers in Northern California Lor Sale to marijuana growers wishing to disguise heir crops and More than 9,000 Blank military identification cards. We were shocked and unprepared for he Rush of customers we had says Naughton. And other dealers laughed at How Little business we were doing. In fact we were one of the smaller dealers in the  operation rip Stop nestled 134 defendants including Waves of marines surplus Slora operators and officials of two corporations. All were convicted or court Martiale according to a news conference held last month by the Justice department add Liuna arrests Are expected. But authorities believe the operation coordinated by hrs Fri internal Revenue service and Navy will scarcely Pul a Dent on he coast to coast trafficking of stolen military goods through retail surplus outlets. The surplus store dealers who Are cooperating Wilh our investigation say they Are still receiving offers each Day to buy stolen property Naughton says. We Haven t nearly shut this thing  in related investigations operators of american waste fiber co. A Chicago based wholesaler were recently implicated in a hugely profitable scheme to Purchase stolen property from bases around the nation and resell them to the saturday november 29,1965 highest bidder. The company owner and his son and business associate were convicted on a series of conspiracy counts. Souriy nine soldiers Al fort Hood Texas who worked in the Post Supply system and a number of civilians were recently arrested in an alleged conspiracy to Fence Lens of thousands of dollars in equipment through a network of surplus stores. More than 30 wholesalers and servicemen from fort Bragg n.c., were convicted in a series of inter related theft conspiracies so sophisticated they ran their own document forgery service one of those rounded up was the civilian chief of property disposal at the base. The business of buying and Selling government property especially untraceable goods like helmets canteens and Utility Bells is big business. For example one of the soldiers hauled in during flip Stop was a staff sergeant who brought in in one Load hundreds of Gas masks far which the government paid $128. The masks were sold for $7 to is 5 a piece. The stall Serge ill s supplies according to a government indictment were Worth More than $100,000. Another Marine used a forklift to carry off at least eight pallets of wears ready to Eal or mates from a California Supply Center prosecutors said. Each pallet contained nearly 600 cans of Sheso special rations and was valued Al $16,000 Tho i Hiet sold the goods for a few Hundred dollars a pallet one popular scam is the Misla Bahng of new equipment As junk and Ihen ils reselling. In North Carolina civilian operators of fort Bragg s disposal unit obtained new equipment stamped it As damaged or scrap and sold it at tremendous profit to retail outlets or Al auction. Hampering Tyves Ligator was he fact that once the material was consigned to disposal 11 disappeared off the accounting books. These utilization officers would Slamp perfectly Good desks or uniforms or fun mature As scrap says Kieran Shanahan assistant . Attorney Eastern District of North Carolina then they would account for it in terms of tonnage instead of recording each individual item. Thai made these items almost impossible to  when an army Captain Al one base was told he would have to account for $3,000 in equipment he turned to one of the disposal clerks who generated All the false documentation he needed he paid 1300 to get the paperwork to explain where All his stuff  says Shanahan. A false paper Trail was ins Laully  much of the stolen equipment is resold to paramilitary and guerrilla training groups Shanahan says a witness in a recent White patriots party trial says they paid $50,000 to buy ammunition and guns directly from Forl  these groups use surplus stores As fronts to gel what they  one Active investigation indicates stolen military equipment from North Carolina bases was shipped to a foreign nation. We believe remain types of military goods Are being Funn eted out of the country said Shanahan who declined to elaborate. The amount of pilferage and the scope of distribution is just staggering he says. Unfortunately like the drug Market the Black Market in military equipment is hard to shut Down. You close one door and another opens up much of the leafing is Milf cull to select since the thefts do not trigger alarms. Thieves have moved quite a bit of Brand new equipment by corrupting the of direct Exchange system says Tommy nary an Fri investigator. Under Normal circumstances a Supply sergeant for a particular unil can Lake damaged equipment and Swap re far Good equipment Atacio Central issuance facility. Thai Way the unit keeps its equipment in Good  but what was happening is that sergeants Are buying used sleeping bags or whatever from property disposal say at $5 each. Then they Swap them in on Good $50 bags Al Central issuance. They gel All the appropriate paperwork done. Then they Are Selling the Good items to a surplus outlet. Nobody is the  thieves use ingenious techniques to filch equipment one government employee hired seamstresses to tear aul army Issue labels on clothing and sew in non military labels. Others used Aid refrigerators and older containers to smuggle equipment. Still others steal material Only from tha Bottom of boxes so that the absence is nol noticed for months. We found there were As Many ways to steal government goods As Here Are types of thieves says prosecutor Naughton. It s a shocking  the system has turned Many soldiers into thieves and a number of businessman into Black