CATTERICK Two soldiers exchanged pistols for cocaine as part of a plot involving guns and ammunition bought on the black market in Iraq while on a tour of duty with the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, a court martial was told yesterday.

It is alleged that Michael White and Anthony Creswick, lance corporals, sold four pistols between May and July 2005 after smuggling the guns to Osnabrück, Germany, where their unit was based. The court martial, at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, was told that another soldier, Corporal Darren Clemie, offered them 30g of cocaine for two pistols. Lance Corporal White and Creswick subdivided the drug into 1g wraps, intending to sell them to other members of the unit, but the plan fell through when other soldiers became aware of the guns for sale and arrests were made. Creswick has admitted unlawful possession of ammunition and a prohibited weapon but denies selling a prohibited weapon and supplying a controlled drug. Corporal Clemie denies possession of a prohibited weapon, ammunition and supplying a controlled drug. The case continues.

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